Beauty and the Beast
by Psycho gurl
Summary: Joey ends up being forced to stay the night at a house he NEVER thought he'd be welcome in...and he isn't necessarily WELCOME, so to say. (SetoxJoeyJoeyxSeto in process)
1. An unexpected lapse of judgement

Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh does not belong to me in any way shape or form. The only thing Yu-Gi-Oh I OWN even is my Malik poster, and I'm not giving that up!

Notes: I've never written anything Yu-Gi-Oh before, and I've read little to none of its fanfiction. Also, I've only seen a couple of the American Yu-Gi-Oh episodes and one Japanese episode. However, I'm not quite stupid on the subject. I've seen enough.

~*Beauty and the Beast*~

            Joey Wheeler cursed to himself as he made his way down the streets quickly, holding his jacket closed (as much as it could be) to who knows where. He was just pure out of luck today, it seemed. Normally he'd go to Tristan in situations such as this, but seeing as he was out of town visiting some sick aunt of his or something, that was out of the question. The wind blew harshly in his face, making the 64 degree weather seem no higher than 40 in his mind. It wasn't unusual for nights to be this cold, but this was the longest he'd spent traveling the streets after dark that he could remember.

            Car headlights illuminated his face for a brief second as a car zipped past him, blinding him for a split second. That set of headlights was followed by another, and another, and another. It seemed the traffic light had just changed on him, and a hand rose to shield his eyes, leaving his jacket forgotten.

            "Damn!" Joey swore again, attempting once again to close his jacket. It was his own fault, he supposed, being home so late. It hadn't really been his fault he was late, though! He'd told Yugi to tell him when it was 9 so he could start home, but they'd both forgotten about it. He'd ended up running home around 10:15, finding the door locked. Of all the days for him to forget his key, this had to have been the worst. He knew better than to try and get his father's attention. He also didn't feel like disturbing any of his friends. It had to have been around 11:30 now. He'd sworn to Tristan that he'd go over to his place whenever he got himself locked out, or else he would never go there, either. It was against his morals.

            "You're sure the courageous one, aren't you?" Joey stiffened at the voice behind him, turning on his heel quickly to glare at his new 'friend.' "What's an idiot like you doing out here anyway? Shouldn't you be doing something useful, like rebuilding your deck?" Seto teased, hands buried in his pockets as he smiled coldly at Joey, not a sign of compassion marking his facial features in the slightest. Joey couldn't help but blush in embarrassment and glare at the ground instead. Seto hadn't a clue what he was going through. The spoiled brat had probably never slept outside that damn mansion of his in his life.

            "I'm locked out," he managed softly, lost in the strong wind. Seto took a couple steps forward, curious. His footsteps blended softly with the wind, and Joey's hands clenched tighter around his jacket. "I said I'm locked out. My father locked me out of the house, alright?" He growled, glaring at Seto's shoes as if he was actually looking him in the face.

            "You…got yourself locked out?" Seto asked incredulously, his cruel laughter breaking through his sentence occasionally. He laughed freely as he finished, and Joey could feel his anger rising.

            "Shut up! It's not funny! My father locks me out if I'm not home by 10, I doubt your rich ass can understand that!" He spat angrily, turning around quickly and hurrying away from Seto as fast as he could without running. The NERVE of him! To laugh at him without being able to even come close to understanding the situation he was in.

            "Hey, loser." Joey sped up as he heard Seto's voice behind him, and the fast pace of his footsteps. He stopped as a hand grabbed his shoulder harshly, causing him to lose his balance and fall back against his follower. Strong hands wrapped around him for a moment, holding him upright until he regained his footing, at which point they immediately let go. He turned to stare at Seto, prepared for whatever insult he was planning on throwing at him. "Get in the car," he practically demanded, pointing harshly to the car parked behind them, where the two had first run into one another. Joey didn't move an inch, just continued to glare at Seto for all he was worth. "I'm not going to try anything, idiot. Get in the car, I don't like owing people anything," he stated emotionlessly, not moving either.

            Joey gave in within a short amount of time, the cold eventually getting the best of him and forcing him to take comfort in the warmth the car provided. Seto followed quietly, slamming the door shut behind him. "Don't get used to this. I just don't want anyone to say I owe you anything for your so-called help. Mokuba insists that I thank all of you, but this is the most you're getting."

            "Nice to know my hard work is appreciated," Joey mumbled bitterly, staring out the opposite window as the car started on its way down the streets. "Thanks for the help, though," he offered after a short while on the road, eyes not moving from the lights passing by outside the car. It was strangely addicting. He'd never driven around at night before. It really was something different. Seto made a noise of dissatisfaction and continued to glare at the seat in front of him. He wanted this trip over and done with as soon as possible. They were both silent the rest of the drive there, and Seto was thankful for that.

            "Seto! Welcome back!" Mokuba greeted him happily as they made their way through the doorway, the driver shutting the door behind them quietly. "Joey, what are you doing here?" He asked as soon as he noticed the other boy's presence, looking from Seto to Joey to Seto to Joey until his head felt all funny.

            "I'm letting him stay here tonight, in return for helping me earlier." Mokuba smiled brightly at that, latching onto his big brother's hand. Seto didn't look any cheerier than normal, but Mokuba's energy made everything seem more on the positive side. Even so, Joey was still aware that his situation massively sucked. "Don't touch anything," Seto demanded as Joey walked over to inspect the small lamp sitting on the table at the end of the small hallway. It was fancy, not overly so, but fancier than anything he owned. He wondered what other little goodies Seto had. This was sure to be an interesting stay, to say the least.

            "Joey, are you hungry?" Mokuba asked after a short while, letting go of Seto and practically bouncing over to where Joey was standing. Seto was actually being nice to someone! Maybe now they'd all see that he really wasn't all that bad of a person.

            "Mokuba, leave him alone. I'm just letting him stay here since he didn't seem to have anywhere to sleep. He's to do nothing else," Seto commanded harshly, and Mokuba flinched at the words, running over to his brother's side. There was no way anyone was going to think any better of him if he kept on treating people like he did.

            "But brother, shouldn't you be nice to him? He risked a lot trying to help you!" Mokuba whined, tugging on his brother's sleeve. Seto sighed and removed Mokuba's hand from his jacket.

            "Fine, but don't expect me to do it. I'm only letting him eat here because you want him to. I'll be in my room." With that Seto rested a hand on Mokuba's head for a moment before heading towards his room. Mokuba could baby Joey as much as he wanted, with all his whining Seto was sure Joey deserve to be babied by someone as young as his brother. Maybe it would make Joey realize that he was in no place to say anything so harsh and disrespectful to him again.

            "Please don't be mad at him. He just doesn't like the thought that he owes you and your friends for helping him," Mokuba offered as soon as Seto had departed. "He's…"

            "…really a nice person. I heard ya," Joey cut him off, but not in a necessarily cruel way. He was trying to show that he understood and believed him. If Seto gave Yugi or him a chance, he was sure he'd find that they weren't as bad as he made them out to be. "So, you were saying something about food? I haven't eaten since lunch." Mokuba smiled and lead Joey through the hallways, pointing out where things were as they walked. Only what he thought would be important for Joey to know about, of course. There was no use pointing out rooms that Joey would have no need for.

            "This is the kitchen," he finished happily, opening the door for Joey and following him inside. "I'll show you where the guest room is after this, okay?" Joey nodded and sat down carefully, afraid that he might break anything that he touched. Seto had already imprinted a fear in him that getting fingerprints over anything would result in himself getting brutally murdered. His fear was not completely untrue. Some would rather die than face Seto Kaiba when he was truly angry. Especially being as off guard as Joey was.

            "So, what do you want?" Mokuba asked after a while of letting Joey examine the dining area. Nothing overly special, but it was big. Bigger than any room Joey had seen in his life.

            "I'll eat anything. I'm starving!" Mokuba sighed and went to find him something decent to eat. If he was lucky someone who could cook would still be awake. Yep! One of them was. He walked over to them quietly, tugging on their sleeve gently. Since he and Kaiba had been living parentless for a while now, he'd gotten used to it. He didn't think it weird at all to have people hired to take care of him. He couldn't help but feel abandoned sometimes, though.

            "Hey, can you make something for my friend? He hasn't eaten in a while," he asked politely and she smiled down at him, nodding. "Thanks."

            "No problem. What does he want?"

            "He said anything's okay." She nodded once more before pushing Mokuba back outside. "No one's allowed back here when I'm cooking. I have to keep my secrets secret, you know," she offered cheerfully, trading him some candy for his departure.

            Joey ate what was offered him quickly and happily, seeming quite content afterwards. "Man, you guys have it lucky," he offered softly, sighing as he stood up carefully. "So, where am I supposed to be staying?" he asked as Mokuba materialized next to him.

            "Follow me," Mokuba instructed and Joey did as he was told, following him obediently out the door. He walked back down the hallways they had taken to get to the kitchen, leaving the door open. It wasn't necessary for the door to be shut, after all. People were always going in and out of there. He stopped in front of a door and took hold of the door handle gently. "This isn't your room," he offered to Joey and opened the door. Joey knew better and stayed back, even though Mokuba opened the door fully so he could see all inside and everyone inside could see everything outside.

            "What do you…oh, Mokuba." Seto offered a direct glare at Joey, disgust clearly written over his features. Joey glared back in return, pulling back slightly. "Well?"

            "I just wanted to say goodnight. I know you're probably going to be up working all night, but I'm going to go to sleep now." Seto nodded and checked his watch.

            "That's good. You were supposed to be asleep a half hour ago." Mokuba grinned sheepishly and clasped his hands behind him innocently. Seto smiled slightly, ignoring Joey's presence in the doorway. Either that, or he'd completely forgotten about him. "You're right, I'll probably be up all night. See you in the morning, all right?" Mokuba nodded and turned to leave, catching Seto's attention on Joey again and he focused yet another glare at him.

            Mokuba moved to close the door as he reached Joey but a hand stopped him from closing it all the way. "Do you mind?" he asked as calmly as he could. He was pissed, yes, that Seto would make fun of him and treat him like shit here, but that wasn't a factor right now. Mokuba shook his head and Joey stepped inside, still on the receiving end of Seto's glare. "I wanted to say thank you, for letting me stay. I probably would have been stuck staying at the school if you hadn't offered. I'm really grateful." Although Seto might be a jerk, and he might just be doing this to even the score, Joey was truly, truly grateful for the help. He couldn't turn to his friends in his times of need; he didn't want to drag them into things. Therefore, he was often all by himself. He was used to it.

            "You're welcome," Seto managed softly and Joey flashed one of his trademark smiles.

            "I guess I'll be seeing you at school, then?" he cheered, flashing a thumbs-up before leaving, shutting the door quietly behind him. "Hehe, maybe he isn't really such a bad guy after all," he offered happily to the stunned Mokuba, pulling himself away from the door. "So, do you think you could show me to my room now? I'm beat." Mokuba nodded and they continued down the hallway. He stopped in front of Joey's room, but spoke up as soon as Joey got the door open.

            "Was what you said true, about staying at the school?" Joey stopped and turned around, blinking in confusion before nodding.

            "I've done it before. Rules at my home are really strict," he offered, entering the room and shutting the door behind him. Mokuba felt a little bad for Joey at that, heading back to his brother's room and opening the door slightly, as quietly as he could.

            "Seto?" Seto Kaiba looked up quickly from where he had been reading over the latest paperwork that had come to his attention. Nothing important, but nothing he could slack off on. It had to be done, important or not. "I was wondering, about Joey." Seto's eyes narrowed a little bit at that, but not to their normal degree at mention of the boy. "Don't you feel a little sorry for him, even a little bit?" Mokuba asked quietly and Seto sighed, leaning his head on his palm as he stared at the wall absently.

            "Yeah, I do," Seto offered ever so quietly, almost so his little brother didn't hear it. "That has nothing to do with it, though. I still don't like him." Mokuba frowned and moved over to the door, turning the handle and opening it again.

            "Like him or not, can't you try to be nice to him? He seems to have enough troubles." With that he left, closing the door behind him with a dull click. Seto stared at the door dully for a couple moments before sighing and returning to his paperwork. Him? Nice to that Joey character? He didn't think so. However…

_            /'I'm really grateful.'/_ That smile, that confident look in his eyes, even behind the embarrassment of having to thank him. The way he shied away from looking truly happy, edging on happy, embarrassed, and nervous all at once. Look just kind of confused.

_            /'I guess I'll be seeing you at school, then?'/_ That cheerful smile of his, the thumbs-up he offered so casually, as if they'd been friends forever, the confidence and energy in his eyes. There was something strange about that boy, to be in such a horrible predicament and carry himself like that. Why hadn't he left already? He hadn't really been expecting Joey to dare stay near him for so long, but he'd approached him. Seto had been correct in assuming Joey was brainless when he first met him. What kind of guy thanked him? He didn't do anything for thanks; he did it to settle scores.

_            /'Thanks for the help, though'/_ Seto thought back to the drive in the car, the way the lights continued to light up his face quickly, glittering against his eyes and showing off the color in them, and the small formation of tears that had started to build up under them. The color of his cheeks a light shade of red from the cold wind outside.

            Seto quickly shook his head to get rid of the offending thoughts. How could he be thinking of Joey in any matter other than a PEST! An annoying little pest that existed only to get in his way. However, what really had the boy done to him? It was mostly Yugi whom he held the grudge against. The only time the boy had come close to deserving the hate he offered it had been his own fault. Joey had merely been protecting his friend.

            "Why am I making up excuses for that IDIOT?" Seto inquired harshly to the empty room, growling deep in his throat before returning to his paperwork. This was no time to be thinking on the idiot occupying the adjacent room, this was a time for work. School was for trivial things like that.

            Joey sighed and lay down on the bed Seto had offered him, staring at the ceiling blankly. Who would have guessed that Seto Kaiba, the asshole that he always portrayed himself as, would let him stay over for a night? Sure, it was to pay off a debt, but it was still a kind gesture. Mokuba was right; Seto wasn't that bad a guy, although his people skills needed some definite adjustments. For some reason Joey was reminded of a cartoon movie he and his sister used to watch together when they were kids. He couldn't remember the title, but the plot reminded him of his current predicament…a little bit, at least.

            With that thought in mind he fell asleep, leaving his problems of tomorrow where they belonged…tomorrow. He'd have to be up early, after all, to walk to his house before school. He still had to get his uniform. Either that or deal with showing up in his normal clothes. Not possible. He'd have to go home…but that meant not eating. Oh well, he'd have to deal with it.

            The next morning he was up bright and early, being used to early hours. He was a generally energetic person; he could wake up at five in the morning and still keep up his energy all day long. It was just a part of him. Sure, he may whine about it when he didn't HAVE to wake up so early, but that didn't mean he couldn't live with it. Stretching he made his way over to the door, opening it slowly and trying to fight the yawn that threatened to make itself known. Shutting the door behind him slowly so he wouldn't disturb anyone he crept in the direction he figured the door would be in. He recognized the hallway, at least.

            After a couple minutes of looking around blindly, Joey decided that it was hopeless. There was no way he was finding his way out of this house without someone's help. Turning around to go back the way he came he screamed as he found himself staring into the eyes of Seto Kaiba. They stared at each other for a while before Seto crossed his arms stubbornly.

            "Where are you going?" Joey looked around nervously; he was vaguely aware of how suspicious he had looked, wandering through the hallways. It was no wonder Seto was curious as to what he'd been up to.

            "Um…I was looking for the door. I have to run over to my house and grab my things before school. I just…can't find it," he admitted, blushing slightly. This was embarrassing, getting lost inside Seto's house like that. Seto sighed and his arms dropped down to his sides.

            "How long of a drive is it to your house?" Joey blinked in confusion before trying to figure it out. It had been about a ten-minute drive to Yugi's card shop, which was around where Seto had picked him up. It had been a five-minute drive from there, so about fifteen minutes…maybe. Might have been five. He hadn't really been paying attention.

            "About fifteen minutes, I guess." Seto nodded and sighed again.

            "I'll have someone drive you over there. It'd take you too long to walk there and back before school. You wouldn't be on time." Joey nodded slowly, he'd figured that much. Well, not really, but he'd gotten the idea that he'd PROBABLY be late for school. However, being late was better than not going at all. "Come on," Seto ordered as he continued down the hallways, motioning for Joey to follow him. He did so quietly, not wanting to piss off Seto and ruin his chances of getting through this and making it seem completely normal.

            Joey blinked as Seto opened the doors to the kitchen, motioning him inside. "I don't feel like listening to you whine about being hungry in class," he answered harshly even before Joey could question. He nodded and Seto went over and opened a couple cabinets for him without even thinking, grabbing something from one of them and continuing to the counter. "Grab something to eat," he ordered, grabbing a coffee machine and plugging it in harshly. He spoke no more than he had to in order to get his point across. He didn't feel like actually _/chatting_/ with him.

            "Thanks a lot." Seto snorted in reply, going back to his task at hand. He was actually starting to grow tired; the caffeine would do him some good. "Wow, so much to choose from," Joey admired happily, moving from cabinet to cabinet and peering inside. He'd never seen so much food in his life.

            "Hurry up and pick," Seto snapped after a while of listening to Joey's comments. He was tired; dealing with the idiot wasn't something he wanted to do at the moment. He didn't know why he'd even bothered with him that morning. He should have just shown him the door and let him leave, but it was too late now. The damage had been done.

            Joey sighed and grabbed a couple pop tarts, not wanting to be too intrusive. Seto was doing him a favor; he couldn't be picky or take advantage of it. He knew better than to do that. He wouldn't do it to his friends, and he wouldn't do it to Seto either. He closed all the cabinet doors and moved to sit down at the table, leaning against the back of the chair and opening his breakfast. Seto glanced over at him and his eyes widened slightly at Joey's choice. Of all the things he had, he'd chosen THAT. He really was strange.

            Pouring himself a cup of coffee he walked over to the other side of the table, setting his coffee down for a moment and staring at Joey, trying to figure him out. Joey stared back at him in a confused manner and Seto shook his head harshly.

            "Hurry so we can get going," he demanded, picking his coffee back up and taking a drink. Joey nodded slowly and continued eating, shoving the remaining pack into his pocket for lunch. He wasn't going to have time to grab money or lunch from his house, he was well aware of that, so he would have to make do with that. He didn't like taking money from his friends, either.

            Seto finished off his coffee after Joey and dropped it into the sink, sending an echo through the room and shattering the silence that had begun to grow between them. He walked past Joey quickly, making no movement to even show that he acknowledged his presence. Joey should know that meant he was to stay there, but instead he followed a couple steps behind him, keeping himself quiet. Seto repressed the thought that Joey reminded him of a lost dog.

            Seto jerked the door to his room open harshly, causing Joey to step back a bit farther. Slamming the door behind him he headed towards his closet, pulling his school uniform out quickly and throwing it onto the bed. Glaring in the general direction of the doorway he pulled his shirt over his head quickly, throwing it towards his laundry pile. Now was not a time to be orderly, now was a time to be quick. He was very aware that Joey had followed him. Was the boy really that stupid?

            "Um…" Seto blinked and turned around quickly to glare at the intruder, finding Joey standing and looking stupid in his doorway. "I take it I was supposed to stay there?" Seto glared at him a few more seconds before nodding, and Joey retreated, closing the door behind him. He had a feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

            Confused Seto reached a hand up to his face, feeling his cheeks grow hot. His eyes grew wide before narrowing to thin slits. That boy really WAS an idiot! Couldn't he have at least knocked! And he'd thought he was polite. Even more pissed now he continued, ignoring the idiot standing outside his door.

            After he was finished changing, he brushed his hair quickly, slamming the comb on the table before walking to his doorway. Grabbing the handle he took a deep breath and forced himself to remain calm. Screaming at Joey wasn't going to make things any better. Sure, he'd feel a hell of a lot better, but Mokuba wouldn't leave him alone for weeks about it. There was nothing he wanted to do more right now than shoved the door open harshly and scream at Joey, call him all sorts of degrading names and make him feel sorry that he'd done that! However, instead he twisted the doorknob slowly and barely allowed himself enough room to get out, shutting it with just as much control.

            "Sorry," Joey offered as Seto emerged into the hallway, staring at the floor and trying to keep the blush that was clear on his face out of sight. It would have been different if they were friends. It wouldn't have bothered him in the slightest, but he barely knew Seto. What he did know of him was sure making an unpleasant aura for himself. That was making it a whole LOT more awkward.

            "You should be," he offered coldly, and motioned for Joey to follow as he started back down the hallways, not knowing why he bothered. From their last encounter, Joey would have followed anyway.

            Joey followed as he was told, of course, a good five feet or so behind Seto…just in case.

            The car trip was made in as much silence as possible. Joey still had to give directions to his house, since Seto hadn't the slightest clue as to where he lived. Other than that it was silent, and Seto didn't even move. He wasn't doing anything but paying off a debt. There was no need for him to be overly kind to Joey.

            As they pulled up in front of Joey's house he hopped out quickly, running up the steps and turning the door a couple times quickly before he finally opened the door slowly, practically creeping inside. To Seto it took an eternity before Joey reemerged from the house quickly, rubbing his arm nervously as he flashed him an unsure smile.

            "What the hell took you so long?" Seto asked, aggravated, as Joey got back in the car. That had been at least 45 minutes. Seto was glad they'd left unnecessarily early; otherwise they'd be late. Joey laughed nervously and shook his head, closing the door behind him.

            "I normally take that long," Joey answered quietly, glancing out the window as the driver started towards the school. He was trying not to look at Seto; he didn't want him to see the effect this trip home had had on him.

            "NOBODY normally takes that long!" Seto spat angrily, surprised at how angry he really sounded. He hadn't lost his cool like that in a long time. He hadn't been screaming, necessarily, but he had raised his voice to an abnormal level. At least, for him it was an abnormal level. Despite his harsh personality he was generally quiet, even when he DID speak.

            "I'm not welcome home for a week. Happy now? Dad's pissed I didn't call, on top of being home late. He was mad he didn't know where I was, all right?" Seto's eyes widened slightly at that, seeing Joey's face in the window's reflection as he gazed out of it, looking strangely lost. He wasn't…welcome home? "I don't know what I'm going to do," he added, sounding rather pathetic and scared. Sighing Seto leaned back in his seat and stared at the ceiling, feeling strangely sympathetic.

            "You can stay with me for a week," he offered bitterly, more like a demand than anything else, and Joey turned to stare at him quickly, eyes wide. Seto was OFFERING for him to stay at his house for a whole week, with no interference from his brother? He was going to protest when Seto turned his head to glare at him. "Don't you dare! You're staying with Mokuba and me…I don't want to have to listen to you whine," he added hastily to the end, turning away quickly and looking out the opposite window.

            "Thanks," Joey offered again energetically, leaning back in his own seat and enjoying the ride to school. It wasn't often he actually rode in a car, after all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

YAY!!! I've been working on this thing for what seems an eternity. It's sort of playing out like Beauty and the Beast, huh? (As explain the title) Joey's a beauty, so it works out, right? This comes after the pod-thingies and before Dungeon Dice Monsters, because that's what I've SEEN up to. Okay, now that that's done and over with it's time for my MANDITORY MOKUBA KIDNAPPING!!!

Mokuba: *looks innocent* Boy, I sure am lucky SETO KAIBA'S MY BIG BROTHER!

Malik: *kidnaps Mokuba*

Psycho gurl: O.O *chases Malik*

(Why Malik, you may ask? Because I FRIGGIN' LIKE MALIK!!!!!!!! *Hugs poster*)

Malik: *beats psycho gurl aside the head with Millennium Rod*

Psycho gurl: @_@ …needed that…

Okay, now that THAT is taken care of, please tell me what you think so far. I'll be working on chapter 2 after I finish chapter 17 of my Gravitation fanfic. And PLEASE don't be TOO mean if you don't like it. I'm sort of sensitive.


	2. Dealing with the idiots that stupidity d...

Disclaimers: Still doesn't belong to me. ;_; Wish it did…

Notes: Um…yay! Go me; I'm finally starting with chapter 2!

~*Beauty and the Beast*~

            The day passed in more normalcy than Joey would have predicted. Seto's harsh warnings to him in the car kept him from saying anything to his friends about staying at Seto's, finding easy ways to get around their questions without lying. A large group was immediately around the two of them when they found out that Joey had arrived at school with Seto. Everyone wanted to know what the house looked like, what his family was like. None of them bothered Seto, however, his cold personality keeping them away from him. However, he ordered them to drop it and leave them both alone about it, and the crowd departed, leaving only Joey's friends to talk to him.

            "Kaiba!" Seto stopped as the voice called out to him on his way into the school, turning around the see Yugi running towards him, waving happily. He snorted and turned to leave. "Hey, wait!" he screamed again, finally catching up with Seto. He was out of breath, and Seto waited for him while he panted for breath. That must have been quite a run for someone as short as Yugi. "I wanted to say thank you, for helping Joey. It was partially my fault, so I was really worried about him." Seto glared at him a moment before turning around, closing his eyes. Why was everything thanking him all of a sudden? He couldn't stand it.

            "I could have cared less about the idiot, I just didn't want him thinking I owed him. Mind your own business Yugi," he demanded harshly, continuing on his walk to the school. Yugi stood confused for a moment before laughing softly, turning to run back to his group of friends. He normally wouldn't have been worried about Joey, but he was aware that Tristan was out of town, and everyone knew that Joey didn't have anywhere else to go.

            "Hey, where'd you disappear to?" Tea asked as Yugi caught back up with them, squeezing his way between Tea and Joey. He blinked and looked up at her, smiling happily.

            "I was just thanking Kaiba," he offered cheerfully, hands instinctively reaching up to hook onto his backpack. It was a habit he'd picked up sometime in his life. He was aware it only made him look even younger but he didn't care, it wasn't like he cared what other people thought of him anyways. All he cared about was his friend's opinions of him. They were the people who really knew him, after all.

            "I don't see why you bother. He's so cold," Tea offered, watching Seto's back as he retreated into the school. She didn't see why he would be going into the school building already when it was such a beautiful morning, but Seto was always a strange one. It was almost like he didn't like people. Why was beyond her, but that was the idea she had started to form in her mind.

            "He was nice enough to let me ride to school with him," Joey offered in his defense, hands digging into his pockets. He would have liked to say more in his defense, but he really couldn't without surely getting into trouble with Seto. He was sure he wouldn't like to be known as such a nice person; he certainly didn't seem to want nor care about people's approval.

            "Still, you know all of us would help you out if you'd ask us," Tea answered in her own defense. She didn't see why Joey was getting all defensive on Seto's behalf. He wasn't a necessarily nice person by ANY means. Sure, he may have been nice to Joey once, but he shouldn't let that overlook all of the other cruel things he'd done to him in the short time they'd actually known each other. She'd never forgive him for being so cruel to Yugi and his grandfather when they'd first met. He hadn't even known Yugi and he'd treated him like such an asshole. Like he was above him.

            "Yeah, but I didn't have to ask," Joey snapped back, eyes narrowing slightly. They just didn't understand it. He hadn't asked for his help, he hadn't even mentioned that he'd needed it. Seto had offered. He couldn't be that bad of a person if he was going to just offer help to someone that looked like they needed it. Tea narrowed her eyes as well and looked like she was going to snap back but Yugi spoke up first.

            "Joey has a point. For someone like Kaiba to offer him help…he can't be that bad. It must have been a big dent in his pride even to offer it. He may not act like a nice person, but he must be to help Joey out. I bet he's just afraid people might not respect him if they find out how nice he is." Tea seemed confused for a moment before she nodded, and Yugi smiled happily.

            "I agree with Yugi. Now come on, let's get to class," Joey offered quickly, heading on his way inside and forcing the others to follow. Maybe Yugi was right. Would that mean that him thanking him was insulting his pride as well? He didn't want Seto to hate him, really. It was just his way, to thank people.

            He sighed as he walked into the classroom, leaning his hands on Seto's desk. "Um…I…" Seto looked up at him from his book with disinterest and pointed to his seat.

            "Don't talk to me," he demanded, and Joey nodded, staring down at the floor.

            "Sorry," he managed weakly, heading over to his desk. He wasn't aware of the fact that Yugi was watching him with particular interest, but Seto caught the other's glaze easily, turning to glare at him. A single word and he would be sure to make the boy's life miserable. However, Yugi just smiled in response and waved, heading to his own seat.

            The rest of the school day passed normally, not a word mentioned to either of the boys about their arriving together. That wasn't to say that it wasn't the talk of the school, but they were spared the questions. Whether that was a good or bad thing depended on what view you had of the situation. Joey wished that they wouldn't make things up by themselves and just ASK, but Seto was happy so long as they weren't bothering him.

            "So, everything's alright now, right?" Yugi asked as they left the school. Tea had been staying after school the last couple of days learning dance routines. She'd been accepted into a dance competition, and the poms instructor was helping her with her dances. Therefore, only Yugi and Joey were left walking home together.

            "Yeah, everything's fine," Joey answered with a smile, flashing a thumbs-up at his friend. He'd never realized how much they worried about him until today. This was the first time he hadn't had anybody to turn to, and they had all been worried to death about him. They kept on asking him exactly what it was that Seto HAD done. All they were aware of was the ride he had gotten to school. He had told Yugi about staying the night at Seto's, but not Tea. He didn't feel she needed to know that. After all, she held a big enough grudge against Seto that telling her that was definitely not the wisest of choices.

            "So your father's not mad?" he asked innocently, wide eyes staring up at him. Joey blinked a couple times and shook his head, holding his smile in place. He wasn't about to worry his friends even more, after all. That was the way he was.

            "He's not happy with me, but it's nothing all too bad," he offered as an excuse, hands buried in his pockets again. There was an uncomfortable silence for a while, but that was okay with Joey. He didn't want to have to think of any more almost-lies. He was getting sick of trying to lie while not lying to his friends. It made his head hurt.

            "So…what's it like staying with Kaiba?" Yugi asked after a while and Joey sighed. Finally, something he could answer completely truthfully.

            "It was nice. I mean, his house is HUGE! Mokuba was there, of course. He showed me around and fed me. Kaiba wasn't any nicer than he normally is; he mostly stayed in his room. He did offer me a ride this morning though, so that was nice of him. I think I embarrassed him this morning," he offered with a laugh, brushing hair back from his face. "I sort of walked in on him changing. He was blushing like mad. I don't think he noticed that, though. Don't see what he has to be ashamed of. I'd kill to look like that," Joey offered, crossing his arms behind his head and staring at the sky as he walked. Yugi laughed from next to him and he looked down, eyes burning from the odd angle he was looking at, and he dipped his head down slightly so as to be more comfortable. "What's so funny?"

            "Sounds like someone has a crush," he offered playfully, winking up at his friend. Joey must have turned all sorts of shades at that, and he stopped immediately in his tracks, hands falling to his sides. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he just glared. Yugi found it all so very humorous. It had taken him a while but he'd finally come to terms with liking his other side himself. He wondered if he would have behaved like that if someone had mentioned his crush before he realized it himself.

            "I do no…shut up Yugi," he finally managed and Yugi laughed, skipping over to the door of the card shop. Joey hadn't even realized they were so close to it. "What are you so happy about?" he demanded after a short while and Yugi laughed again.

            "I'm right, aren't I? Want to come inside?" he asked more conversationally, opening the door.

            "Nah. I don't want to push my luck. See you later," Joey offered just as politely, glad to drop the conversation as they waved goodbye. There was no way he had a crush on Seto Kaiba. The guy was…was…was a guy, he guessed. Besides, who in the world fell for someone who wouldn't even look at him once they were at school? It just didn't make sense. Even if he DID like Seto, which he DIDN'T, what good would it do him? Even if Seto liked him back things at school wouldn't change. They'd only like each other out of school, and that wasn't what Joey wanted.

            Since he didn't know where Seto's house was, EXACTLY, he was stuck walking home. It was only instinct. Besides, it wouldn't look as fishy that way. Yugi was expecting him to walk off towards his house, if he turned around to start looking for Seto's place Yugi would know that something was up. He was sure they were all still worried about him, but he couldn't avoid that. They'd be worried about him no matter what he did now.

            "It's about time. What took you so long?" Joey blinked as he recognized Seto's voice, turning around quickly to find him leaning against the edge of his car, arms crossed. "Well? I won't wait for you like this everyday," he demanded harshly and Joey nodded, running over to where Seto was standing. "Are you allowed inside to get your things, or don't you know?" Joey stared down at the ground again and shook his head, hands clenching tighter to the handle of his bag.

            "I'm not allowed inside," he offered softly and Seto nodded, opening the door next to him.

            "Then I guess we have to go shopping. You're not wearing the same clothes the whole week," he demanded sharply, waiting for Joey to get inside. Obviously he didn't get the hint since he just stood there and stared at him. "Well? Get inside the car!" he snapped and Joey did as he was told, scooting over so Seto could get in as well. He did so and slammed the door shut behind him.

            "I can't pay you back any time soon, just in case you were thinking that I could," Joey offered as they started off towards wherever, and Seto sighed. "What? I'll try, but it's not like I have much money."

            "We'll figure that out later." Joey smiled slightly and turned to face the window.

            "Thanks for eve…"

            "I'm not doing this to be nice!" Seto snapped, and Joey turned to look at him, surprised at the look in his eyes. He looked so very cold, but at the same time…not. It was definitely confusing. "I don't know why I offered for you to stay, but now that I said I will I have to. If I didn't owe you anything I wouldn't be doing any of this, so stop thanking me!" he demanded and Joey shrunk back a little bit, before anger filled his own eyes.

            "I'm sorry but that's just the way I am! I'm thankful when people help me out, whether they're doing it to be nice or just doing it to pay off a debt! Because, whatever reason they're doing it for, they ARE being nice by helping me out!" he snapped back and Seto's eyes narrowed even more. Joey sighed and leaned back in his seat, staring at the ceiling. "I don't see why you hate me so much. I didn't do anything to you," he pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. Seto blinked a couple times in confusing, crossing his own arms over his chest.

            "That was a sudden mood change. What the hell's wrong with you?" Seto asked, leaning back in his own seat and slouching down like a child that didn't get what he wanted. He was very aware he was spoiled, but he frankly didn't give a damn.

            "I dunno. You tell me. You're the one that hates me," Joey offered harshly. Seto sighed and sat up again, trying to think of a way to explain this to him. It was just…he just did. He wasn't quite sure of the reason himself.

            "I just hate people. They're cruel, arrogant, and stupid. I'm not just singling you out," he offered after a long while and Joey laughed softly. "Why the hell do you care why I hate you anyway? Don't try and tell me no one's hated you before." Joey shrugged and sat up.

            "I guess it's because I couldn't see why you did. Made me feel like there was something really wrong with me. A lot of people hate me because of my big mouth, but I normally leave you alone. It really hurts when people hurt you for no reason. You don't seem to hate Mokuba," Joey added after a while.

            "Mokuba's the only family I have left. He doesn't treat me like a spoiled brat, in case you haven't noticed." Joey smiled and nodded, sitting up again and turning to face Seto.

            "I guess I never thought about that. Think, maybe, we could try to be friends? I promise I won't treat you like a spoiled brat if you won't treat me like a loud mouth punk," he offered, reaching a hand out to make a deal. Seto looked down at it a while, eyes wide before looking back up at Joey.

            "But that's exactly what we are," he offered, sounding more than a little confused, and Joey shrugged.

            "So? We're also two teenage kids that go to school together. We're both lots of different things. Teenagers, boys, students, people. We don't have to treat each other the same way everyone else does. Everyone treats you like a spoiled brat; everyone treats me like a punk. You said you like Mokuba because he treats you differently, and that's why I like my friends. They treat me differently. You don't have to if you don't want to. I'm just saying…" Kaiba took Joey's hand before he could finish, a tiny little smile on his face. It was sort of awkward, and Seto was blushing slightly as he did it. For some reason Joey got the feeling that Seto didn't smile often, even at home.

            "I guess…I could try. Not to say I'll be kissing your ass the entire time you're over." Joey laughed and nodded.

            "I wasn't expecting you to," he offered as he let go, leaning back in his seat. He felt a lot better now that that was over. Sure, Yugi would laugh at him and say he had a crush if he were there to see it, but so what. Fact was, he WASN'T there to see it, and therefore couldn't rub it in his face. Seto wouldn't admit it, but he also felt a little, teeny tiny bit better. Mokuba would be happy he was trying to be nice to someone. Besides, even he was a little lonely.

He'd never had any real friends before. They'd all called him 'spoiled little rich boy' and ignored him in school. The friends he did have took advantage of him, so he'd stopped talking to people around the age of 9. That was why he was so obsessed with Duel Monsters. It was his way out, his way of proving to himself that he was better than those assholes that'd taken advantage of him. He'd holed himself in his room and dedicated himself to being the best, that way people would see he was worth something. He wanted people to realize he WASN'T their stepping-stone.

            "Is this alright?" Seto asked as they stopped in front of a store and Joey nodded, climbing out of the car quickly and following Seto inside. Okay, first step forward: Seto had spoken without constant badgering. It was a miracle in itself. "Get whatever you want, but remember that you might end up paying for it," Seto demanded as they walked inside, hands buried in his pockets. Joey's eyes lit up happily as they walked around, picking out all sorts of things. You'd think they'd be in and out, but Joey wanted to try on EVERYTHING he could get his hands on.

            "You're not seriously thinking of getting all of that, are you?" he asked as he walked over to where Joey had been calling him over. His eyes widened slightly and he shook his head.

            "No way. I want to see what looks best on me, though. That way I don't buy anything that looks bad." Seto sighed and leaned against the nearest wall.

            "Can't you just grab them and get it over with?" Joey shook his head and handed Seto a group of clothes. "What the hell am I holding this for?" he demanded as soon as Joey handed them to him, taking them anyway.

            "There's a limit to how much stuff I can bring in there are one time," Joey explained easily, disappearing into the first stall with the rest of his stuff. "Would you be willing to give your opinions?" Joey asked from the other side, examining himself in the mirror. He didn't think he looked all too bad, but he wasn't sure. He never did like clothes shopping by himself much. Not to say he particularly enjoyed clothes shopping either way, but he felt better when someone else was there with him. He always seemed to buy the wrong sorts of things when he shopped by himself.

            "I'm sure it looks fine," Seto responded without a care as to whether it did or not and Joey opened the door to peer at him from around it. "What?" he asked as soon as the head materialized from the other side of the door. Was he trying to get on his nerves? This whole 'being friends' shit wasn't going to work if he kept on pissing him off like this.

            "Nothing, I had this short thought that you were being nice and complimentary, but forget it. Obviously just being evasive," Joey answered easily with a smile, moving to close the door behind him. He blinked as he noticed Seto's face staring at him intently in the crack between the door and wall.

            "So long as you have the door open you might as well," he offered softly and Joey smiled, opening the door. Okay, so maybe Seto had been wrong. Joey obvious could look better than he'd normally given him credit for. Even the simple change from a white to a black top made him look so very very different. Joey blushed slightly as he realized Seto wasn't saying anything.

            "I take it there's something wrong with it?" he asked softly and Seto shook his head, digging through the pile of clothes he was stuck holding to pull out a jean jacket Joey had picked out earlier. "You're seriously…suggesting something?" Joey asked as he took it, and Seto glared at him. "I'll take that as a 'yes, now shut the hell up,' okay?" he answered with a laugh, sliding the jacket on as well. "Better now?"

            "It looks fine," Seto snapped and Joey rolled his eyes, shutting the door and changing into the next outfit. This was more fun than he'd thought it would be!

            Both boys spent a good hour, at LEAST, shopping, and Seto had seriously entertained the thought of strangling Joey a couple of times, if only to be able to leave. However, even he offered input every once in a while, minus his mandatory 'you look like crap' remarks on the clothes that looked less than satisfactory. He hated to admit it but Joey wasn't all that bad looking. He was almost surprised that there weren't girls hanging all over him. He was sure people wondered the same thing about himself (he wasn't completely clueless as to the girls' whispers in the hallways) but his personality was enough to detract from even his good looks. Joey was nice, if not a little annoying, at least. Then again, the school uniform wasn't exactly flattering on ANYBODY. Maybe the girls, but Seto didn't bother noticing such trivial things.

            "Well, that took forever," Joey whined as they walked out of the store, stretching as he talked. He had changed into the clothes he had first tried on, and was happy with what he had ended up with. Seto looked over at him and glared for all he was worth.

            "I wouldn't whine if I were you. It was all your fault," he snapped and Joey laughed, both of them waiting outside the doors of the store to be picked up. "What are you laughing about? My little brother's home alone because you decided to act like a girl in there," Seto snapped again, and Joey stopped laughing immediately.

            "I'm sorry. I thought maybe you could try to have some fun. If you'd told me you wanted to go home and see Mokuba I would have put it all back and left. I…I don't want to be a burden." Seto sighed and leaned back against the wall of the store.

            "Stop that. I can't stand it when you apologize like that. Not everything's your problem or your fault. I don't think I've ever actually had fun in my life; don't think you can change that in a day. I don't think you could manage to find something I enjoyed doing in a week," he offered quietly, leaning back to stare at the overhang of the building. What in the world was taking them so long? They couldn't have been that long of a drive away from home.

            "You don't enjoying dueling?" Joey asked after a while, walking to lean against the wall next to Seto, following his gaze to the ceiling. Seto turned to glare at him before pushing off from the wall, burying his hands in his pockets.

            "No, I don't. I duel because I'm good at it, not because I like it. You play it nonstop for a couple years and see how much you like it," he offered coldly, cutting Joey off as he was about to speak again. "I might have enjoyed it when I started off, but I'm not sure. All I can remember thinking is about how badly I beat the kid I played, how much I wanted to beat EVERYONE, that way maybe they'd like me." Joey just stared as Seto spoke, eyes wide. Why in the world was Seto telling him all this? Was he seriously trying to open up to him?

            As if to answer his question Seto turned to glare at him. "Don't you dare say anything! I don't want your pity or your questions or whatever!" he demanded harshly, and Joey knew that Seto hadn't meant to say what he had. Otherwise he wouldn't be so afraid of Joey continuing with it.

            "You should do something because you like it, not because you want people to like you. Didn't you ever want to have any fun?" Seto shook his head and headed towards the car as it pulled up in front of them, not saying another word.

            Joey was quiet for a long time as well, staring out the window as they drove around.

            "Heh, never noticed that place before. Probably new," Seto offered quietly as they drove down the street, catching Joey's attention. He was staring out his own window, elbow resting against the door as his chin rested in his hand, a bored expression clearly written over his facial features.

            "Where?" Joey asked, leaning over to see if he could still see it out of Seto's window.

            "Nevermind," Seto offered just as quietly, lost in thought. WHY in the world had he told all that bullshit to Joey? He didn't want his pity; he didn't want him to feel SORRY for him! That wasn't what he wanted at all! He wanted him to see him as a normal PERSON! That was all he'd ever really wanted, but even Joey treated him differently when it all came down to it. He'd seen Joey when he was hanging out with his friends, Joey didn't dare treat him the same way. In the end he always ended up on the outside. He guessed that was where he must have belonged.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

MY CONTACTS ARE ALL FUZZY AND I CAN BARELY SEE BUT I'M DONE WITH CHAPTER 2!!!!!!!

I've been working on this in my head for a long time now, but I haven't had a chance to work on it in my rush to finish my Gravitation fanfic. Only 6 more chapters and I'll be FINISHED with it and can work on this as much as I want! Now, onto:

MANDITORY MOKUBA KIDNAPPING!!! Scene 2:

Yugi: We have to help Mokuba!

Joey: *too busy flirting with Seto to give a darn about Mokuba*

Seto: *being pissy*

Yugi: Umm…aren't we going to go find Mokuba?

Seto: …

Joey: Who's that again?

Seto: *smacks Joey*

Joey: ;_;

Duke: …I'm hot…

Psycho gurl: O.O *molests Duke's earring* It's so pretty…as are you…so very pretty…

Malik: *smacks psycho gurl aside head with Millennium rod again*

Malik: *looks innocent…as possible* I didn't see anything…

Yugi: O.o Okay…I guess Mokuba will have to save himself…

Mokuba: *sitting at home playing video games* I wonder why no one's bothered to call me for dinner yet…

Okay! Now that that incredibly POINTLESS and dull segment is over, we shall proceed to the begging!

*Gets on knees and begs* PLEASE review! I'm trying very hard to update as much as possible and your reviews are helping me write faster! I originally wasn't going to mess with this again until after I finished my Gravitation story, but your reviews made me put down my Gravitation fanfic (yes, you read that right. I PUT IT DOWN, STOPPED WRITING ON IT, FOCCUSED ON SOMETHING ELSE!!!) and work on this.

^_^ Until next chapter everybody! *Waves bye-bye*


	3. You make me sick

Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh still does not belong to me. I only wish It did, but then I wouldn't be writing fanfics for it, now would I be?

Notes: Umm…more shounen ai, of course. SetoxJoey, don't read if you don't like. I think you would have figured that out by now, though

~*Beauty and the Beast*~

            Joey stretched as he got out of the car, shirt rising enough so that a small strip of his stomach was exposed. Not that he cared, no one bothered to pay that much attention to him anyway. He felt dead tired after that drive, especially since neither he nor   
Seto had bothered to speak to one another the whole drive there. He really felt like he should apologize again. It had been his fault, after all. However, Seto could have told him that he was worrying about his little brother.

            However, as he turned to look over the roof of the car and apologize, Seto was nowhere to be found. He blinked as he realized Seto was already opening the front door, glancing back at him quickly in annoyance. Joey sighed as he followed Seto to the door. Really, though, did Seto have to be so cruel? Instead of just glaring at him he could have told him to follow him. He never told anyone anything, how were they supposed to know better?

            He shut the door behind him quietly and carefully, not wanting to piss Seto off anymore than he already was. He had a feeling that was all his fault, too. He was always getting on Seto's nerves. Not that getting on people's nerves was anything new to him, but he seemed to be doing it a lot more often now that he was staying with Seto. Then again, it didn't seem anything new for Seto to be pissed off, either.

            "So, how are we going to figure out who pays for the clothes?" Joey asked cautiously as he followed Seto around the halls. He still didn't know the house very well, so he needed to follow somebody around or else he'd get lost again. Although, he did feel sort of bad asking Seto about the money. He should have just shut up and offered to pay it back there. Then he wouldn't have bought so much, either. He was probably going to end up paying Seto back for most of his life.

            "We'll duel, of course. It's only fair." Joey sighed at that suggestion. Fair, huh? There was no way he was getting out of paying for his clothes now, it seemed. Seto surely wasn't going to go easy on him, and he couldn't beat Seto all by himself. Heck, he wasn't sure if he could even if his friends were helping him. "You do have your deck, right?"

            "Yeah, I have it. I wish we'd just flip a coin or something, then the odds would be a little more even," Joey muttered softly, hanging his head in defeat. He wasn't even sure how much money he had spent, but he knew it was more than he would probably ever see in one sitting. He'd promised his mother that she could use all the money he had won, whatever was left from the operation to be used in helping them both get back on their feet. He was sure there were a lot of side-appointments going along with the operation. He also hoped that it would be used towards letting her visit every once in a while…even once was enough for him. It had been a long time since last they had seen one another.

            The look Seto gave him promptly shut him up, however. He figured it wouldn't be in his best interest to be on Seto's bad side the entire time he was stuck there. Well, he wasn't really 'stuck there' for very long. Tristan was going to be coming back that evening, so he could always stay with him if Seto didn't want him there. He wasn't going to leave unless he had to, though. For some reason being allowed to stay with Seto made him feel…special. Like he wasn't so intolerable.

            Seto paused as his hand rested on the door handle to his brother's room. Straightening he kept his eyes fixed firmly on the door as he opened his mouth to speak. "I…I'm sorry I was such an ass to you back there. I'm just a little overprotective," he offered quietly, waiting a few seconds to hear Joey's response before realizing he probably wasn't going to get one and opening the door, shutting it silently behind him.

            "Seto! I was wondering how long you could spend shopping!" Mokuba offered happily, dropping his game controller and running over to hug his brother happily. Seto allowed himself a small smile, running fingers through his brother's hair. He should have figured Mokuba would have made it a point to find out where he was. Still, he couldn't help but be worried. Joey might think all the money and power was a blessing, but Seto knew better. They never knew when some asshole would come after them for their money. There were times he actually wished he was poor again, that way he wouldn't have to worry so much about his brother. Everyone else might think differently, but he really worried about him.

"So, why was Joey with you?" he asked after a while, pulling back to stare up at his brother. Wide, confused violet eyes stared up at him from underneath deep blue bangs, shining with the innocence of childhood that he still possessed, even though he wouldn't admit it. He was still a child—an intelligent child, but not yet wise—and didn't quite understand everything. Seto's cold, emotionless eyes were drained off all carefree happiness and innocence, and he was glad to see that the same thing hadn't happened to Mokuba over the years.

            "He's going to be staying here for a week," he explained with a sigh. Mokuba smiled to himself happily, letting go of his brother and running to open the door. He knew Joey was there. He wasn't sure how, but he knew Joey wouldn't know his way around by this point, and Seto wouldn't walk him to his room before coming to visit him.

            "Hi!" He cheered happily, smiling up at Joey and dragging him inside his room, being careful to lead him away from the piled of things that had started to accumulate in his room. Seto was going to make him clean it up soon, he knew it. "I like your new outfit," he offered happily as he forced Joey to sit on his bed, running over to grab Seto and drag him over there as well, shoving them both to sit on the bed.

            "Play a game with me!" he cheered happily, handing them both controllers. "It's boring playing with only one person," he offered, sitting down in-between the two of them, starting the game. Seto sighed and brushed bangs back from his face. This was normal whenever he was late. He swore it was Mokuba's way of making him apologize for being home late.

            Joey stared at the controller in his hands blankly as the game loaded, and Mokuba leaned over to explain everything to him. He seemed so childish and cute at that moment; Joey somehow wanted to hug him. It was sort of strange; he'd never really liked little kids. They tended to annoy him, especially the ones he couldn't understand. They just confused him.

            Joey'd played this before in arcades, but never on a controller before, it was a little strange. Mokuba was practically running laps around both of them, giggling like a madman. After he actually bothered to lap both Joey and Seto he stopped, pouting and kicking his brother lightly on the leg.

            "Stop going easy on me!" he whined, turning to glare at his brother as he almost instinctively turned the corner. It was almost sad how video games grew on children now days. Seto blinked as his car bumped against another, glancing quickly over at his little brother.

            "I'm taking it easy on you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in interest. Joey couldn't help but find it absolutely adorable, he'd never seen Seto change expressions so drastically before. Even the raising of an eyebrow was something to wonder at.

            "Of course you are. Big brother's great at games and I'm totally kicking your butt," he offered happily, tongue hanging out of his mouth as he went against one of the sharper turns. Guess even he had to concentrate sometimes.

            "Games that require strategy, not driving. I have a driver for a reason," he offered calmly, eyes not moving from the screen this time. Without warning Seto jerked a hand to push Mokuba's controller off his lap, listening to it thud against the carpet softly. "There. How's that for not taking it easy on you?" he asked and Mokuba glared at him, running over to unplug his controller from the game, leaving just Joey racing with himself. He stopped almost at once, not finding any reason for him to continue without anyone to race against. "What'd you do that for?" he asked monotonously, setting his controller down.

            "It's only fair," Mokuba pouted, sitting down between Joey and Seto again. "Don't you agree with me, Joey?" Mokuba asked, looking up at him and waiting for Joey's opinion. Joey shrugged and Mokuba sighed, pouting quietly. "You're no fun. You're supposed to agree with me."

            "You're not the one offering him a place to stay," Seto offered, ruffling Mokuba's hair before standing up. Mokuba glared up at him, covering his poor hair. Seto knew that got on his nerves sometimes, so he managed to poke fun at him from time-to-time in such a manner. "Do you want to decide on the matter of payment now?" Seto asked as he walked past Joey, turning to look back at him. Joey nodded slowly and got up, following Seto to the door.

            "Bye Joey, big brother!" he cheered before going back to his video game, starting where Joey had left off. He would have gone with them, but he felt he should let Seto try and make a real friend. He was hoping if he left Joey and Seto alone that they'd get to know each other and be friends. However, he couldn't have resisted showing off his racing to Joey when the opportunity presented itself. Deep down inside, you could still tell he was Seto's brother.

            "You don't mind just using the cards, do you? I have a bit of a headache," Seto explained as they sat down, looking tired for the first time since Joey had seen him. It was sort of strange. He'd never seen Seto look tired before, it made him look a lot less threatening. More human, he guessed, like he could suffer from human flaws.

            "That's alright," he offered, shuffling his deck while Seto took some painkillers, leaning back into the cushiony back of the chair he was sitting in. He really liked it here; it was nice and…comfortable, in many ways. Despite being way too large for Joey's tastes he loved it. Everything was designed to be comfortable, and Seto was proving nicer than Joey would have ever imagined. Not to say he was incredibly nice, but just plain nice was an improvement in Seto's case.

            "Take a guess at how much you spent," Seto ordered as he sat down, shuffling his own deck. Joey blinked and though of everything he had bought. It was sure to be a lot of money, but he hadn't checked the prices on almost anything that he bought. He just knew that he wanted it.

            "Um…$90?" Seto shook his head and set his deck down, raising a finger. "Higher? 110?" Still raised. Joey's eyes widened slightly at that. "130?"

            "$127. You'd better hope that you win," Seto offered, leaning back in his chair. "I'll give you a small handicap. I'll let you pick whether you want to go first or second." Joey sighed and agreed to go first. He figured that would make things easier for him.

            The battle dragged for what seemed like hours. Seto was playing sloppier than normal, and Joey was trying his hardest not to loose. He didn't want to be in debt to Seto for the rest of his life. Like Seto, he didn't like owing people things. It was a part of his personality. He also didn't like to depend on other people, so this sort of worked for him, fighting a duel instead of doing something like flipping a coin. Then it took him no brains at all to loose or win.

            Seto sighed as he drew his new card, not feeling completely tuned into the battle. Everything was registering slower than normal, and he was fairly sure that Joey had picked up on that a long time ago. Why else would this battle last so long? He normally could have beaten him in half this time. Now they were fairly well matched, and Seto hated it.

            He smiled as he looked at the card he'd drawn. Another of his Blue Eyes White Dragons. He already had one on the field and the other in his hand. Along with the Polymerization card he had on the field this could finally end the stupid battle. His hand gripped the card tightly before he looked across the table at his opponent.

            Joey sighed as Seto's face lit up. He was sure this was the end of it for him. His Magician of Faith wasn't going to do him any good even IF he grabbed his Monster Reborn. He was going to end up paying Seto back forever. He rubbed at his eyes harshly as he realized he was about to start crying. There was no way he was going to be such a baby in front of Seto. It was just a game…and $127.

            Not changing his expression Seto let go of his Blue Eyes, playing card destruction instead. He'd give Joey a CHANCE to win. That wasn't saying he was going to let him win…it was only a little chance. A handicap…right, a handicap. He attacked Joey's facedown monster as soon as that was done, watching the blonde's eyes light up happily.

            "Alright! I'll just grab this…" he offered to himself as he placed his Magician of Faith in the graveyard, grabbing the magic card of his choice and placing it back in his hand. He'd been lucky to listen to Tea on that card. "My turn now, right?" he asked, even as he drew a card. He knew damn well it was his turn, but it was almost habit for him to ask things like that over table duels.

            "Of course it is," Seto offered, sounding rather bored. Joey smiled and played the card he'd just drawn…a dark hole. Seto sighed and discarded his Blue Eyes into his graveyard. No big problem, really. He had other strong cards he could use.

            "Alright! Now I play this," he offered, playing his Monster Reborn to grab Seto's Blue Eyes, eyes widening as he searched through Seto's graveyard. He'd… "And I'll set this in defense mode alongside it," he offered finally, leaning back in his chair. After a while he sighed and tapped on the table. "Seto, you're turn."

            Seto sighed and drew a card, setting it down in defense mode on his side of the table. Of COURSE, he'd just have to get a weak monster when he needed it. Hopefully he'd get some sort of worthwhile magic card in his next draw. If not he'd be stuck playing defense for a while now that his other two Blue Eyes were in his graveyard along with his Monster Reborn. He didn't bother keeping a card like Magician of Faith in his deck. Why would he?

            Joey couldn't help the smile as he picked up his next card. Block Defense. That would surely work to his advantage at the moment. "I'll play this, then," he offered, setting down his Block Defense and reaching over the table to change Seto's card for him. He was so out of this game it was sort of scary, especially since he was supposed to be the best duelist…aside from Yugi, of course. He smiled happily as he noticed what it was. This could be his chance to win the game!

            Seto blinked as Joey's eyes widened slightly. Joey looked so happily as he attacked Seto's Sagi, that he just didn't have the heart to flip his card destruction. "You win," he offered, setting his hand down on the table with a sigh. His reputation might have just gone down the drain, but Joey's eyes were shining so happily and he looked so happy. It was almost worth it.

            "Thanks," Joey offered happily, reaching his hand across the table.

            "Nothing to thank me for. I'm tired, that's all," he offered coldly as he took Joey's hand, standing up. He didn't want thanks; he hadn't done any of it for thanks. He'd done it because he'd wanted to, for some strange reason he'd wanted to loose.

            His hand tightened on Joey's slightly as he stood up, feeling dizzy. Joey blinked and let go of Seto's hand, watching as he collapsed back into his chair, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling. Running around the table he pressed his hand to Seto's forehead, surprised he felt so warm.

            "What are you doing?" Seto snapped as he brushed Joey's hand away, turning away from him. "I'm fine, leave it be." Joey blinked before reaching back over to feel his forehead again. Seto didn't protest this time; just shut his eyes with a sigh. If Joey insisted on acting like his mother he could, it was his choice. He wasn't going to thank him, though. There was nothing to thank him for; he was perfectly fine…just a little tired.

            "You're burning up, asshole. How in the world are you fine!" Joey demanded, picking up Seto's cards and pressing them against his hand gently. "Come on, we both know you weren't playing your hardest because you're sick. We can try again later," he offered quietly, finally letting go of Seto's deck.

            "I don't want to try again," he offered harshly, pushing Joey away with his free hand and standing up once again. "If that duel wasn't going to count I wouldn't have bothered finishing it," he snapped again, glaring at Joey. He really looked sick, now that Joey thought about it.

            "You didn't. You let me win. Did you let me win because you were getting sick of fighting?" he snapped back, grabbing his own deck from the table and shoving it in his pocket. Seto's eyes widened slightly before narrowing again, trying to look threatening again. It was sort of hard when he looked so tired, but he didn't care. Before he could say anything, however, he fell forward, wrapping his arms tightly around Joey as he collapsed against him. "I told you you were sick," Joey teased as he held Seto upright, aware of Seto's arms wrapped tightly around him as well.

            "I let you win because I wanted you to win, leave it alone," Seto offered between deep breaths, cheek pressed firmly against Joey's chest. He was well aware of how wrong this looked, but he didn't want to fall and look even worse. He didn't want Joey to think little of him that was why he'd strived so hard to be the best player in the first place, so people wouldn't think low of him.

            "Can you stand up by yourself?" Joey asked after a long while standing there. He knew he was blushing, but who wouldn't be? Anyone who saw him would immediately think wrong of the situation. Seto wasn't letting go of him for anything at the moment, and he couldn't let go of Seto for fear that he'd fall, so they were stuck like that.

            "Of course I can," he offered stubbornly, pushing himself away from Joey. He wavered slightly for a moment, and Joey kept his arm by his elbow just in case. Seto might be acting like a general stubborn asshole at the moment, but that didn't mean he should be a jerk. "Thanks for your help," Seto offered as he balanced himself, blushing slightly. He couldn't believe he'd let Joey hold him for so long. That was…

            "No problem," Joey offered with a smile, still keeping his hand by Seto's elbow. Just because he could stand up straight didn't mean he could walk. He was right. As soon as he took a step forward he wavered and fell back against, free hand grasping for something to balance himself with. "You're sicker than you'll let yourself admit," Joey offered as he caught Seto again, setting him upright and taking his hand gently. "Come on."

            "What are you doing!" Seto demanded as Joey held onto his hand, feeling his blush deepen. This situation was getting worse as time progressed. Joey laughed and raised a hand to prove his innocence.

            "I'm just trying to help. It'll be easier for you to walk if you have something to use for balance, right?" Seto nodded slowly, his grip on Joey's hand tightening as he moved, head spinning like crazy. "You know, you shouldn't work yourself so hard sometimes. Were you sick yesterday, too?" he asked as they walked down the halls slowly, getting sort of bored.

            "No. I just don't feel good today," he offered, hand gripping tighter to Joey's again as he felt like he was going to faint. He'd never had this happen before, why was it now? Right when he needed it the least. As they finally reached Seto's room Joey opened the door and helped Seto inside, taking his deck and setting it on the table, leaving him behind, trusting that he could stand up on his own.

            Seto sighed and dragged himself carefully to his chair. He had more work to get done; he could live with his illness for now.

            "What kind of an idiot ARE you?" Joey demanded, wrapping arms around Seto's waist to keep him from pulling the chair out so he could sit down. He'd never met anyone so stubborn in his life! He was really sick, he shouldn't be working.

            "Mind your own business!" Seto snapped, not even bothering to free himself from Joey's grasp. He knew he wouldn't be able to get free in his weakened state, anyway. "What the hell are you doing?" he demanded as Joey dragged him to his bed, pushing him onto it gently. It was enough to make Seto trip, however. "Stop meddling and go do whatever the hell it is you do!" he snapped, trying to stand up again.

            "I'm not stupid," Joey demanded, pushing Seto back onto the bed. "You're not going to get any work done like this. If you rest you'll be able to work faster and you'll get more done in the long run. Do you understand?" Seto glared at him and sat up from where he'd been lying down, feeling himself grow weaker as he lay there.

            "What would you know about it?" he demanded and Joey moved to sit on the bed as well, pressing Seto's shoulders to the bed and holding him there. He was blushing a deep red by now but he didn't care, so was Seto.

            "I know more than you do, obviously." Seto fought to get away. He had to work; Joey had no idea what he was going through. He didn't have to live all by himself like he and Mokuba did. He didn't have a little brother looking up to him and relying on him to make money for the both of them. He stopped as he realized his eyes were starting to tear up, turning away from Joey. If anyone were to see this he might as well forget ever leaving the house again. It would be the story of a lifetime.

            "Let me go," he offered in his normal demanding tone, although inside he was begging. He couldn't let Mokuba down.

            "Do you have any idea how worried Mokuba will be if you work today and don't get better?" Joey demanded harshly, fingers digging into Seto's shoulders as he lay there. "You're always thinking about doing the best for your little brother. I'm sure he'd agree with me that you should rest today." Seto blinked as a tears splashed against his face, turning his eyes to stare at the boy hovering above him.

            "When I was about his age my sister got really sick, and she wouldn't let anyone help her. She didn't want to fall behind in school so she went anyway, and made everyone think she was okay. She got worse, and I remember how scared I was. I used to cry all the time because I was afraid my sister was going to die if she kept on pushing herself so hard. You want Mokuba to worry to death because you won't take a day off?" he finished, eyes narrowing slightly as he talked. Seto's eyes widened and he relaxed, sighing.

            "Fine," he offered and Joey smiled slightly, sitting up and letting go of him.

            "Alright then." Seto watched as Joey dried his tears harshly, still smiling. His face was a deep red by now, and Seto was pretty sure he was blushing the same shade. What was WRONG with that boy that he could do something so embarrassing and…well, do it? He'd never lower himself to doing something he was embarrassed of doing. "I'll go tell Mokuba you're taking a day off so he doesn't bother you, alright?" Seto sighed and nodded, closing his eyes and allowing himself to sleep.

            When next Seto opened his eyes he felt slightly better, although his head was still spinning. Joey'd been right, he shouldn't work himself so hard. All it did was make him fall behind in the long run. Who would have known that idiot knew anything about business. Blinking he looked over to the blonde head resting on his bead, face buried in his arms. Sitting up he rubbed at his eyes, taking in the picture before him.

            "You're such a moron," he offered, clenching blankets in his hands as he turned to stare at the ceiling, then down to stare at the wall as if it were something interesting. He wasn't sure whether he was talking to himself or to Joey, but whomever it was he was talking to he meant it. Maybe he was talking to the both of them, they both deserved it after all.

            "I know," Joey offered, glancing up at him from the fold of his arms, smiling slightly. His brown eyes shimmered even in the dim light coming from the hallway. Joey sat up and rubbed at his own eyes, yawning. "Mokuba wanted to stay and look after you, but when he fell asleep I made him go to bed. He made me promise I'd look after you, though," he offered with a smile, and Seto nodded detachedly. Joey'd stayed up to watch after him. He could feel his cheeks grow hot at the thought, glad there was so little light in the room.

            "Mokuba's a really good little brother, you shouldn't worry about protecting him so much. It worries him. He said he'd rather you stop protecting him every once in a while and just play with him like a big brother. I think he can take care of himself for the most part," Joey offered softly. It was quiet and still, and he didn't feel the need to do much more than whisper. It was around 3 in the morning, no one else was out wandering at this time, so not a sound reached either of them.

            "I can't. It's just…a part of me," Seto offered just as quietly, turning to look at Joey again. "He'd the only person that's ever stayed with me since the beginning. I don't want anything to happen to him. He's everything to me." Joey smiled and slowly reached a hand out to cover Seto's, smiling slightly in reassurance.

            "You don't have to protect him for him to like you. You're a nice person, it's your outer personality that causes you all these problems." Seto sighed and nodded, not bothering to push Joey's hand off. "My head hurts. Can you get me some painkillers or something?" Joey nodded slowly and let go, standing up. He smiled to himself as he walked through the hallways. While Mokuba was watching over Seto he'd had somebody teach him his way around and drill it into his head until he could walk around as if he'd lived there for years. He was glad Seto hadn't screamed at him, maybe he had a chance after all.

            Mokuba'd told him a lot about Seto's past. About when the kids would make fun of him, about the way he let himself get put down so people would leave Mokuba alone, the way he let people beat him up when he was younger so they didn't drag Mokuba into it. Joey had to admit, he was a lot more observant than most kids his age. Then again, he'd probably gone through more.

            Quietly he sat back down next to Seto's bed, handing him the painkillers and water he'd grabbed. Seto nodded thankfully and took them, setting the glass on the dresser next to his bed gently.

            "Question," Seto stated emotionlessly, staring straight ahead at the wall as he spoke. It created an air of indifference, an air that Seto craved at the moment. Things were too confusing. Joey blinked, sitting up straighter as he waited for Seto's question. After a long silence Seto took that as a sign to continue so he did. "Why do you care so much?" Joey blinked before leaning back to rest on the palms of his hands and smiling.

            "Because you were nice enough to let me stay here, so you can't be that bad of a person. I don't think you deserve to be so lonely. I think you deserve at least one good friend…other than your brother, of course. Do you think I'm good enough for that spot?" he offered, eyes sparkling with a sort of mischief.

            "I can't think of anyone else who'd even try." Joey smiled and set up, leaning onto Seto's bed and reaching over to take his hand again, tugging on it gently so Seto would look at him.

            "Go back to sleep, it's early and you'll want to go to school, right?" he asked and Seto nodded, sighing and lying back down. He turned over and pulled his hand away from Joey's, hiding the blush that rose on his cheeks. What in the world was wrong with HIM? To let someone get to him so…it was unnerving. "Night, then," Joey offered with a sigh, standing up.

            "Night."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

YIP!!! Okay, so I know I said I wasn't going to update this until Bible of Kumagoro is done, but I found writing this chapter a lot easier than writing the lemon for that story (which I will DEFFINITELY be finishing before chapter 4) so I finished it.

I'm SO sorry Seto ended up so OOC near the end. Then again, he was sick. I can't manage being pissy very well when I'm sick, either.

Now for THE MANDITORY MOKUBA KIDNAPPING: Part 3 (it now has nothing to do with kidnapping Mokuba, but oh well)

Yugi: Seto is sick?!?!?!?!?!

Joey: Yup.

Seto: I'm fine…

Mokuba: I thought you were sick…

Seto: Nope.

Joey: Yes, he is.

Tea: What's up guys?

Joey: Seto's sick.

Seto: I'm fine…

Tea: SOMEONE'S SICK!?!?!?!?!? I CAN SAVE THEM!!!!!! *proceeds to help *cough*torture*cough* Seto*

Seto: I will KILL the person who started this...

Yugi: *snickers*

Joey: Hey, I just realized that you spell Tea's name like a drink. Hehe. Can we call her bag, then?

Tea: I'll kill you if you do!

Yugi: SURE!

*Gets on knees and begs* Reviews for the poor demented fanfic writers with no lives. Reviews for the poor demented fanfic writers with no lives.


	4. As if things weren't bad enough

Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh doesn't belong to me. Only my small collection is here to keep me company…

Notes: SetoxJoey, shounen ai, blah blah. Same-old same-old.

I'm BACK! After being out for quite some time I've finally decided to write another chapter on this, since I hadn't started it and therefore didn't loose anything (for anyone who didn't know, I lost all my stories, I have only the old backups from months ago. That was why I was gone for so long).

~*Beauty and the Beast*~

            Joey smiled slightly to himself as he watched Seto sleeping peacefully. It wasn't nearly as late as he had first though, so he had time to kill before he figured he should wake him. An hour, to be technical…he'd had trouble sleeping. Besides, Seto looked so cute, sleeping so peacefully. He'd noticed how adorable he really could be the night before, but he wouldn't dare tell Seto that.

            He jumped as Seto's alarm went off, glancing over at the time. It was only 5:30, a good half-hour before he would have figured to even THINK of waking him up. Why in the world would he need to be up so early anyway? It couldn't take him very long to get ready; it didn't even take Joey that long.

            Slowly he snuck towards the door and hoped Seto wouldn't kill him for being in his room at 5:30. It was obvious that Joey wouldn't have known to wake him up so early, so his presence would have been quite suspicious. However, as his hand rested on the safety of the door handle, Joey blinked and noticed that Seto had yet to move. The alarm was already starting to give him a headache, how in the world was it not waking Seto up?

            Letting go of the door handle Joey moved back towards Seto's bed, glancing around for some way to wake him up. He didn't want to get smacked, so he considered staying as far away from him as possible a good idea. Carefully he picked up the alarm from next to Seto's bed and pressed it as close to his ear as possible. With his natural instinct to turn off the alarm he could only hope that Seto wouldn't reach over and smack him instead of the clock.

            After a while of that not working Joey set it back on Seto's desk, crossing his arms and trying to think of what to do. "Think he died in his sleep?" he asked aloud, looking around the room for some other way to wake him up. He was slightly worried at this point. Seto had been truly sick the night before, and now he wasn't waking up. If he couldn't find a wake to wake him up he'd have to wake someone else up and have them check and see what was wrong with him. He didn't want to catch whatever and die, too.

            Walking over to the window carefully Joey opened it, breaking off a fairly good-sized twig and picking off the little branches sprouting from it. He hoped Seto wouldn't kill him for that, either. He had to wake him up, though. He was pretty sure Seto WOULD kill him if he missed school.

            Carefully he poked at the sleeping boy, hoping he would wake up. He didn't want to find out he'd been trying to wake up a dead guy this entire time. That would just be twisted and sick in a way only his mind could imagine at the moment. Thankfully Seto moved after a while, pushing the stick away from him and turning on his side to burry his face in his pillow.

            "Hey asshole, wake up already! I've been trying to wake you up for ten minutes now!" Joey screamed, tossing the stick outside so he wouldn't get in trouble for having it inside of Seto's wonderfully organized house. Seto refused to move again and Joey stomped his foot in annoyance, reaching over to pull the pillow away from Seto's face so he'd wake up.

            He screamed as Seto grabbed his wrist, falling to his knees and trying to pry his hand off. "Hey, jerk, that hurts!" he screamed, panicked eyes staring up into dangerously narrow blue ones. Suddenly Seto's eyes widened and he let go, moving to turn off his alarm clock, a tiny blush appearing on his face. Joey didn't even notice as he examined where Seto's fingers had dug into his wrist. That was definitely going to bruise.

            "Sorry, it's a reflex," Seto offered, hand resting on his alarm clock, not daring to move. He was making such a fool out of himself, it was absolutely horrible. Now he'd just shown Joey what a paranoid freak he really was.

            "I understand. I just hope Tristan doesn't notice," Joey offered with a small smile. Seto turned to stare at him and Joey blinked a few times. "Tristan's normally the person I turn to when I get into trouble, so he's sort of…possessive," Joey offered carefully, feeling like he was being interrogated or something, even though Seto wasn't saying a thing. "If you want, I'll leave and go over to Tristan's after school today," he offered as he stood up, getting the feeling that Seto was implying that he should leave if he had someone else to turn to.

            "You don't have to," Seto offered coldly, standing up and walking over to his closet. "If you want to you can, of course, but I'm not going to kick you out." Joey nodded and moved to leave, feeling that he should find himself something to eat. Seto paused as his hand touched his closet door, taking a deep breath. "I'd actually like it if you stayed." Joey's smile widened and he nodded, opening the door carefully.

            "Then I guess I don't have much of a choice." Joey's mind rejoiced as he shut the door behind him. He was actually wanted here, always an up. Now he'd just have to convince Tristan that nothing was wrong. However, the bruises on his wrist were going to be hard to explain. Thankfully they weren't turning out very noticeable, and the school jacket was probably long enough to cover them. If he was lucky Tristan wouldn't notice.

            Seto slammed his fist against the wall as Joey left, cursing himself. What was wrong with him? He was acting like such a...a…a wuss. Why couldn't he have just told Joey to leave and had this all done and over with? Then he wouldn't have to worry about any of this anymore. It just seemed like he was making all sorts of mistakes recently, especially when it came to a certain blonde classmate of his.

            "Hey, aren't you up a little early?" Joey asked as he ran into Mokuba in the hallways, taking his wrist gently and stopping him. Mokuba stared up at him and shook his head slowly. "Really? You weren't up this early the other day," he offered and Mokuba shook his head again, pointing down the hallway.

            "I'm going to go see if Seto's alright. He was really sick yesterday so I want to check on him," he offered and Joey nodded, letting go of his wrist. Mokuba really did remind him a lot of his sister sometimes.

            "He seemed fine this morning," he offered in reassurance and Mokuba smiled, nodding once. He was thankful that Joey had offered to take his place and look after his brother; he'd really needed the sleep. He'd been having trouble sleeping recently and his teachers had already contacted them about his slipping grades.

            "Thanks for your help!" he cheered as he ran off down the hallways, wanting to say 'good morning' to his brother now that they were both awake.

            He stopped running before his brother's room and knocked on it softly, not wanting to startle him. He knew that Seto was a bit jumpy sometimes, and lately things hadn't gotten any better. He'd fallen behind and was still working on catching up, while trying to keep constant watch over Mokuba and attending High School. It had been no surprise to Mokuba at all that he had collapsed yesterday.

            "Come in." Mokuba turned the door handle and pushed the door open carefully. "Hey," Seto offered with a tiny smile as Mokuba shut the door behind him, being careful that it latched completely. Mokuba smiled and walked over to where his brother was working, staring at the pile he was currently examining.

            "Morning. You feeling better, big brother?" Mokuba asked cheerfully, looking around the room to see if anything was out of place since Seto hadn't been organizing it yesterday (a hobby he'd taken to whenever he got bored). Seto nodded and set everything down, standing up.

            "Of course. Thanks for your help." Mokuba nodded and smiled brightly, following his brother as he walked over to the door. "You'd better eat something or you're going to starve before lunch. What are you doing up so early anyway? I thought I told you not to do that…"

            "I know, but I wanted to make sure you were okay. I wasn't sleeping anyway," Mokuba offered in his defense. He wasn't really lying; he'd been half away when his alarm had gone off, so he probably wasn't going to get any more GOOD sleep that night…

            "I don't care if I'm dying, next time stay in bed. You know I can take care of myself just fine," Seto offered in a commanding tone. He was worried about his brother's grades. He was a smart kid, really, but with everything that happened between the two of them it didn't show as well as it should. He couldn't really use that as an excuse either, because it was his own fault they were in this mess and no one else's. He didn't want Mokuba to struggle when he got older.

            "But that's why you were sick! You don't let anyone help you!" Mokuba whined, burying his hands in his pockets and staring at the ground as they walked. He had a point, but Seto wasn't going to change for him, no matter how much he worried about him. It was just a part of him; he was always going to be stubborn like that, doing things his own way. It really got on Mokuba's nerves sometimes, but at the same time it was a part of what he admired in his big brother.

            "I know, but it works most of the time." Mokuba sighed and gave in. It wasn't his right to question his brother anyway. "Hey, you want to see if we can get some real food today?" Seto asked as they continued down the hallway. He was getting sick of a strict coffee diet, as he was sure Mokuba was of his constant cereal breakfast. Sometimes you just NEEDED something different. Unfortunately, there was hardly anyone awake at this hour. They were both up way too early for anyone else to be up and working already.

            "Real food sounds good," Joey offered from behind them, causing both Seto and Mokuba to jump, turning to stare at him. He laughed and pointed to the room he was staying in. "You two were loud enough I could hear you so I came to join you guys," he offered with a smile.

            Without even thinking Seto reached out to grab Joey's hand, holding it up to the light and looking it over carefully. Joey blinked a couple times before laughing nervously. Yeah, it sort of showed, even through the uniform jacket…just his luck. Tristan would probably notice.

            "Are you going to get in trouble for that?" Seto asked, letting go of his hand as if it had bitten him, burying his hands into the safety of his pockets. Joey blinked and examined the marks on his wrist carefully. There were even slight fingernail marks around them; there was no bullshitting his way out of this one.

            "My friends will want to know what happened," Joey explained, pulling his sleeve down even further. If he was lucky Tristan wouldn't ask about his personal life first thing today and he could avoid having to talk about it. He'd have to make up an excuse just in case, since Tristan rarely left without coming home and immediately asking what was going on with Joey. Everyone knew he was pretty hopeless without Tristan around sometimes. "Tristan probably already knows I'm not staying at home. He might even know I'm here. He's pretty smart sometimes, when he needs to be." Seto nodded slightly.

            "Sort of like you, then." Joey laughed and nodded, burying his own hands in his pockets. "If he worries about you so much, maybe you should go stay with him," Seto offered as they walked down the halls, feeling strangely alone even in the company of his brother and Joey. Joey sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

            "I guess that would make things easier, but I like it here. I mean, not just the house, but you're all right when you're not calling me names." Seto glanced over at Joey a moment before staring back at the wall. Why did he feel so absolutely helpless? He had so much power, money, and authority, yet he couldn't do anything to keep Joey around…he couldn't even understand why it was that he wanted Joey around in the FIRST place. "If I told him I was staying here, though, I don't think he would mind," Joey offered after a long silence, broken only by Mokuba's whistling from up ahead.

            "Then…I don't care if you tell him, but not anyone else. I…have my pride." Joey nodded and continued to walk slowly next to Seto. A sort of uncomfortable silence followed, but neither one dared break it. Seto found it comforting, a time to organize his thoughts and regain his normal composure. Joey was too afraid that he might upset Seto with his constant rambling if he talked, so they both walked in quiet, listening to Mokuba's cheery little tune.

            Seto stopped as black pulled in from the corner of his eyes, making him feel hot and dizzy again. Reaching a hand out to the wall he pressed the other to his forehead, wishing he'd never gotten sick. Things would be so much easier then, but now he was running into all sorts of problems.

            "Hey, are you okay?" Joey asked, turning to take Seto's hand gently, pulling it away from his face and feeling his forehead. "I don't think you're well, yet," he offered with a sigh. Seto blinked, staring into Joey's eyes as Joey continued to make sure he was all right.

            "Joey…" he managed in a demanding town, wanting him to look at him. He didn't know why but he wanted Joey's attention…he wasn't so very uncomfortable around him now.

            "Huh?" Joey's eyes snapped up to stare into Seto's, feeling suddenly self-conscious, being so close to him. Pulling his hand away he took a step or two back, blushing slightly. "Sorry, I was just worried. Are you sure you want to go to school?" he asked after a short while spent standing silently in the hallway. Mokuba's voice drifting farther and farther away.

            "Of course I'm sure. I can't just miss school for no reason!" Seto snapped, having regained himself again. Being sick must have really taken its toll on him if he was having troubles being an asshole.

            "Being sick is a reason," Joey offered, stepping forward to accent his point. "So it's not like you'd be skipping or anything."

            "Okay then, tell me the number to the school and I'll call in sick. Wait, I forgot, I'm not old enough to do that, yet. I guess I'll have to go get my parents and have them call for me. Wait, I forgot about that one, too. That's right, they can't," Seto snapped harshly, brushing past Joey and storming quickly down the hall after his brother.

            Joey sighed and brushed blonde bangs back from his eyes, watching as Seto stormed off. Couldn't he even try to understand? He was just trying to help. It wasn't like he was purposely trying to make him flunk out of school. There were hundreds of people working here, he was sure SOMEONE could call in sick for him.

            "Take it no one's awake," Seto offered as he walked into the kitchen, grabbing the coffee from its resting place on the counter. Mokuba nodded and pouted. He hadn't wanted cereal, why couldn't everyone else go to bed earlier and wake up with him and Seto. At least ONE person would be nice. "Sorry. Maybe Saturday we'll go out somewhere." Mokuba cheered up and nodded happily. He wanted something different, and he could wait until the weekend for something REALLY different. It was rare that he and Seto ate out at ALL!

            "I thought you were going to eat something different?" Joey asked, watching with vague interest as Seto once again went through his daily routine of harshly making coffee. Jam the plug in, jam the filter in, fill it, slam the lid on, slam it all together, jam the start button. It was a daily routine of poking and slamming things, basically.

            "No one's awake," Mokuba offered, rinsing out his glass and watching with disinterest as the coffee machine started working, needing something to do. "I'm trying to learn how to cook but everyone says I just get in the way, so it's not going very well," Mokuba offered again, stepping away from the counter and following Joey instead. It was something better to do, after all.

            "You mean neither of you can cook?" Joey asked, sort of confused why they were living 'alone' and neither of them knew how to cook. You'd have figured at least Seto would have learned.

            "Seto can, he's just not good at it. Everything he makes tastes funny," Mokuba offered, sticking his tongue out with a tiny giggle. "I don't mind it that much, really." Joey tried not to laugh at the thought that Seto was a bad cook. He never would have guessed. "I mean, you can live off it if you have to."

            "Mokuba." Mokuba shut up and covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. He knew he'd probably embarrassed and pissed of his brother, but the look on Joey's face was funny. Seto would only be madder if Mokuba laughed, though, since it looked like Joey was trying not to laugh at him as well.

            "Sorry. I'm just enjoying the thought of you in a frilly pink apron," Joey managed, trying his hardest not to fall over laughing. He would KILL to see that…and to have pictures to prove it, of course. Seto blushed and fumed silently. He thought Joey was nice only a few hours ago, but now he was just being annoying. He was stupid to have thought that someone would actually be nice to him for more than a day. Joey blinked a couple times and poked him gently, having calmed down a little at the look on his face. "Geeze Kaiba, it's just a joke. Imagine ME in a frilly pink apron. It's a funny thought, huh?" he asked with a tiny smile. Seto smiled a little bit at that thought, and Joey nodded. "See? Told you it was fun."

Mokuba blinked and stared up at his brother. He was smiling even just the tiniest bit. It was something he wasn't used to, seeing his brother happy while other people were around. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous, while at the same time massively relieved.

            "Anyway, had you waited a bit I could have made you something. You don't have to be in such a rush, you know," Joey offered, poking Mokuba gently. "Next time wait a while, alright? It'll be part of my payment for you guys letting me stay here, deal?" Mokuba nodded and Seto just crossed his arms stubbornly, leaning against the counter, smile wiped from his face.

            "Do what you want." Joey laughed nervously and nodded, dragged out of the room slowly by Mokuba. He wasn't sure why he was being led out of the kitchen, but he wasn't about to ask, either. He was sure Mokuba would explain that later. Although, he was sort of hungry and wanted to eat something.

            Mokuba led Joey into his room and shut the door carefully behind him, letting go of his wrist (thankfully the one that wasn't bruised). Joey looked around slowly and wondered what in the world Mokuba wanted. He wasn't cruel enough to drag him away because he didn't want him to eat…was he? Joey hadn't thought so at first.

            "Do you like my brother?" Mokuba asked suddenly, looking hopeful. Joey blushed and almost fell over, eyes growing wide. What in the world…? How could Mokuba have noticed it and not Seto? Was Seto just dense or was Mokuba just really observant? But…that hopeful look in his eyes. Maybe Mokuba hadn't figured it out at all, was only hoping he did.

            "Um…sorta," Joey offered quietly, staring at the ground. What in the world was going on here? Why in the world would Mokuba want to know whether he liked him or not? Wouldn't he be freaked out if he were?

            "Then please, I'm begging you, help him out. He tries too hard, I want someone to make him loosen up again. Please, I don't want him to keep on working himself like this. He scares me sometimes. Even though he's normally so nice to me, his cruelty to other people scares me." Joey blinked as he stared at Mokuba, who was staring at him with pleading eyes, hands clasped before him as he waited. He'd been trying to find someone that would help him for so long now, but Seto was always so mean to everyone that no one would dare attempt to be nice to him.

            "Of course, I don't like his frigid attitude either. It seems like he's a really nice guy most of the time, am I right?" Mokuba smiled and nodded, hugging Joey suddenly. Joey blinked and rested his hands on Mokuba's shoulders awkwardly. He was so much shorter than most of his friends (not including Yugi)…he wasn't used to having little kids like him.

            "Drop me off here," Joey almost demanded as they drove towards the school, leaning forward and staring out of the window carefully.

            "Why?" Seto asked as the car came to a stop, curious. They'd agreed that they would drop him off three blocks away from the school. Joey still had a good 12 blocks to walk at this point.

            "I normally meet Tristan a few blocks down from here. I can't break our tradition or he'll be mad at me," Joey offered with an apologetic smile, opening the door and climbing out, leaning back in to grab his bag. "Thanks," he offered, closing the door and running off towards their meeting spot. He was probably going to be late, but that was nothing unusual. He was normally late.

            "Hey, you're actually on time today," Tristan offered as Joey ran to greet him, catching his breath. "I guess there's always a first time for everything, huh?" Joey glared up at him and Tristan laughed, poking him gently. "You know I'm kidding. Anyway, should we get going?" Joey nodded and gripped his bag harder, standing up. "So…where are you staying?" Tristan asked after a while, genuinely curious. "I tried to call you last night but your dad said you weren't allowed home for a week." Joey sighed and buried his free hand in his pocket; unfortunately it wasn't the bruised one. It would have been so much easier to hide if it hadn't had been on his right hand.

            "I'm staying with Kaiba, but I'm not allowed to tell anyone but you." Tristan stopped and grabbed his friend by the shoulders, turning him to look at him harshly.

            "Seto Kaiba, the asshole?" Joey blinked and nodded slowly. What was so wrong with him staying with Kaiba? Sure, they didn't get along very well, but… "Has he hurt you? Touched you? Said ANYTHING mean to you?" Tristan asked, worry obvious in his eyes. He was the only person to ever see Joey crumble, and he didn't want to repeat that experience. It had been one of the most pitiful things he'd ever seen.

            "No, he's actually really nice to me," Joey offered slowly, blushing a little bit. Tristan's eyes widened and he titled his head so he could see Joey's face again. "What? Everything's fine, really. I'd tell you if it wasn't, you know that." Tristan sighed and let go of his shoulders, crossing his arms stubbornly.

            "Yeah, I know. But it seems like there's something more going on, and I KNOW you can keep a secret if you want to. You also give a lot away," Tristan offered, grabbing Joey's hand and pulling it up to stare at the bruises there. "You don't normally keep your wrist so close to your body," he offered, letting go of his arm and sighing. "Tell me what happened."

            "It's nothing, I swear. It was all a big misunderstanding, alright?"

            "Misunderstanding or not, he hurt you, right?" Joey's hand clenched tightly around his bag, sighing. He couldn't make Tristan understand without embarrassing Seto, and he was aware that Tristan, no matter how much he promised not to tell, would probably end up telling everyone about it in a matter of minutes.

            "No. I was just messing around yesterday and it happened, all right? You don't have to worry about it!" Joey snapped, continuing on his way towards the school. Tristan blinked and ran to catch up with him.

            "I'm sorry. Geeze, are you even listening, I said I was really sorry, but I worry about you. You're my best friend; I don't want anything happening to you. Do you want to come stay with me after school today?" Joey stopped and shook his head slowly. He knew Tristan was only trying to help, but sometimes it almost bordered on babying. It could really get on a guy's nerves after a while. "Are you sure?"

            "Yeah. Seto's really not that bad, you know? When he's out of school he's a decent person, he just doesn't trust anyone. Everyone has a defense like that, from getting hurt. I…want to get past that and really know him. This is the only chance I have at that." Tristan blinked as Joey smiled sadly at him, brown eyes sincere. He sighed and pushed him gently, continuing on his way.

            "Do what you want, but you can come over whenever you want, you know." Joey nodded and ran after his friend, pushing him back. What was fair for Tristan was fair for him, right?

            Seto sighed from where he'd been watching the two of them, leaning back in his seat and rolling up his window as they started up again. He was only one of many cars stopped at the light next to the two of them, but he was the only one who'd been paying any attention to the two kids messing around outside.

            "You're such an idiot," he told the ceiling as they continued towards school, closing his eyes and sighing. This was one hell of a mess he'd made for himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I FINISHED! I've been working on this chapter FOREVER but I'm finally done! *does happy dance*

I'm not really all that proud of it, but at least it's finished now ^_^;;

MANDATORY MOKUBA KIDNAPPING PART4:

Tristan: Joey, stop hanging out with such an asshole

Joey: Leave me alone

Seto: I'm not an asshole. .

Psycho gurl: Tristan's over-possessive

LotR obsessed friend of PG: I think we should fix him…

PG: GREAT IDEA!

Tristan: O.O HELP!!!!!!!!!!!

Joey: O.O

Seto: O.O

PG and LotR friend: *chase Tristan around the room*

Tea: At least they're leaving me alone…

Yugi: I need something to drink. Bag, can you go jump in some boiling water for me?

Tea: .


	5. Searching for approval

Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh still doesn't belong to me; I have only the faint remnants of it around my room, but not a single right dons my walls.

Warnings: Shounen ai (as if you didn't already know), and PROBABLY an OOC Duke

~*Beauty and the Beast*~

            "Kaiba, wait up!" Seto sighed as he stopped, waiting for the blonde to catch up with him. What the hell could he possibly want? They weren't even on speaking terms as far as most of the student body was concerned, why in the world did he think it would be alright for him to scream his name in the middle of the halls? "Sorry," He offered as he finally caught up to him, covering his mouth even as he gasped for air.

            "What do you want?" Seto asked coldly, not even turning around. Instead he waited for Joey to speak, knowing how strange it would look if they actually engaged in what could be called a normal conversation…as normal as could be with Seto involved. "Well, I don't have all day, I'm hungry too, you know," he bitched after a short while, still waiting.

            "You know, you could try being polite and look at me while I'm talking to you. I guess that's too much for you though so I might as well just get it over with. I'm heading out with a couple of my friends after school so don't wait for me."

            "That was all? I already knew that, after making a fool out of yourself this morning I expected it." Joey sighed and walked beside Seto down the hallway, glaring at him. The entire hall was empty (all the students already eating lunch and generally enjoying the break from school) so it was all right for them to act semi-decently towards one-another…or at least Joey thought so.

            "Sorry for being polite. I guess you saw it, then. That was WAY embarrassing!" Joey whined, turning a light shade of red.

            "Well, you did it to yourself so don't complain. Almost the entire class saw it, not to mention that other kid's class." Joey sighed and nodded, staring at the ground as he walked. "I think you're the only person dumb enough to fall for it," Seto offered with a tiny smile and Joey turned to glare at him, anger disappearing at the look on Seto's face. He…was teasing him? That just wasn't…Seto-ish.

            "Maybe. I guess I really should learn to keep my mouth shut." Seto nodded and the moment was shattered, smile disappearing from his face. He hadn't known what had made him feel so…relaxed…in that moment, but he had and strange things had come out of it. He wasn't sure whether he wanted it to happen again or not.

            "Hey Joey, where did you disappear to?" Seto scoffed and stormed past Joey, marching past Yugi with a sort of dignified air that screamed of isolation. If there was an award for the best actor in all the school Seto would be the least likely candidate, but definitely the one to win…if anybody actually took the time to discover how many times he fooled the world with one of his acts. Yugi just watched him leave before running over to his friend.

            "Watch it jerk!" Joey screamed after him, rubbing his sore shoulder and glaring after him. He'd actually elbowed him, and it had HURT! What kind of a prick was he that he couldn't even pretend to be nice around other people? Geeze.

            "Just leave it alone, you know Seto won't apologize or anything. Come on, we were all worried about you." Joey laughed shortly, dropping his hand from his shoulder with a smile.

            "Yeah, I guess it's not every day I'm late to lunch, huh?" Yugi smiled and nodded his agreement; it certainly was a strange occurrence. He smiled to himself as they walked down the hallways, humming a little song. He really liked the chance to hang out with his friends during the school day, since they couldn't exactly talk to each other during class.

            "I can't believe you let that guy make a fool out of you, that's not like you Joey," Yugi offered as they turned the corner, and Joey sighed. He hated this topic more than anything, but it was the definite talk of the day, so there was no way he could avoid it.

            "I guess I was too caught up trying to look cool, huh?" he asked, smile on his face as he turned to his friend. Yugi just nodded slowly and Joey sighed, crossing his arms behind his head as he walked. He knew exactly why he'd done it, but he wasn't going to tell anyone that. Deep blue eyes and a small approving smile on a normally impassive face…he'd been so caught up trying to prove himself to Seto that he'd forgotten to think things through. He really needed to work this shit out before it seriously screwed up his life or reputation…even more.

            "Joey, where were you? We were starting to get worried," Tea offered as they finally met back up with their friends, and Joey resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Sometimes that girl got on his nerves…She wasn't necessarily nice to him or anything, so why should he like her? In his mind she ended up coming off as generally spoiled instead of 'cool' like she tried…but that was just his opinion, and Yugi was friends with her so it didn't really matter. He wasn't going to demand they stop hanging out with her or anything…he could deal.

            "Yeah, you're normally one of the first people down here," Tristan offered, feeling he should add his opinion in there as well. Joey shrugged and sighed, tuning out as Tea starting talking about this and that…things that he really didn't care about. Blinking he noticed Seto standing in the hallway, smiling to himself slightly. Some day he'd prove himself worthy of Seto's friendship…if he was lucky maybe even something more.

            Seto blinked as something moved towards him, catching sight of the blonde head outside, sighing. He should have known. It was almost becoming like a sort of sixth sense, knowing when Joey was around…or when Joey was paying attention to him. It was definitely unnerving. He'd call it paranoid but it wasn't like he was afraid of Joey being around…to tell the truth he almost enjoyed the company. He would never EVER tell anyone that, however. Not even Mokuba.

            "What are you thinking about?" one of his fellow classmates asked as she took a place next to him at the window, looking down at the kids outside. Seto made no move to show that he even acknowledged her presence, simply glanced out at the horizon. "Come on, I know you can hear me. I just want to get to know you better."

            "Because I'm good-looking?" Seto inquired coldly, turning to glare at her. Her deep blush made it obvious that was all she was thinking about. "I don't date, so your efforts are wasted," he stated in that same cold tone. Slowly the girl nodded and backed away, retreating down the hallways as quickly as she could manage without running. Her friends were right, he WAS scary!

            "You're the only person who didn't want to get to know me because I was good-looking…for some reason it makes me WANT to trust you," Seto offered to the window, finger resting on the vision of the blonde outside. "I hate people, though, so I can't…not fully. Stop asking so many ridiculous things from me," Seto demanded harshly, pushing himself away from the window and walking down the hallways, this time without a destination in mind…just wandering…

~*~*~*~*~*~

            "Where the hell is he?" Seto asked as he waited outside, looking around for the blonde idiot that was staying with him. Why in the world would he be so late? He had this slight feeling he was forgetting something, and if Joey didn't show up soon it would damn well be him. He hated it when people made him wait; he was seriously starting to get pissed off. However, even he had the common sense to feel the slightest hint of concern…

            "Forget it!" Seto screamed after another 10 minutes of waiting, opening the door and climbing inside, slamming it behind him. "Just go home and leave him, he should know his way. If not then he's dumber than we thought. It's his own fault anyway," Seto managed in exasperation, leaning back in his seat and trying to think. He'd spent so much time trying to figure things out that he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was that was nagging him somewhere in the back of his mind. If Joey needed to tell him something he should have told him after school, because unlike the idiot he actually paid attention in class.

            As he walked inside the door he was surprised that Mokuba wasn't waiting for him…or telling someone to call him. Normally the poor boy freaked out when he wasn't home on time. "Seto! Come in here!" Mokuba requested as Seto walked past the room, eyes not leaving the TV. His peripheral vision had always freaked out the people who weren't used to it…luckily Seto wasn't one of them.

            "What's so interesting?" He asked as he walked into the room, wanting nothing more than to lie down and think. He was getting sick of being delayed, to tell the truth…he wasn't used to such things. Seto blinked as Mokuba pointed at the screen, catching sight of a certain blonde on the TV screen. What in the world was that idiot doing on TV?

            "He's dueling against some other guy. I wasn't home in time to catch why," Mokuba explained, sitting up so his brother could sit down next to him. He was right, Seto actually was at least partially interested in Joey…maybe they could really be friends. Mokuba really wished that his brother would have a friend or two of his own, that way he could be happy. He really wanted his brother to have fun every once in a while.

            "That's the same guy that made an ass out of him this morning," Seto offered coldly as they continued watching, leaning back in his seat and listening intently to what was going on. He smiled evilly to himself as he realized Mokuba was taping the whole thing. If Joey was going to lose Seto was going to make sure that it was a loss Joey remembered. Maybe that would teach him to learn to pick his fights better. The guy had made him look like an idiot once already; he should have learned his lesson.

~*~*~*~*~*~

            Joey sighed as they all sat around, chatting with Duke as if nothing had happened between them. Everyone must have seen him on TV; even Seto had probably seen it! What in the world was he going to do now? He'd been so intent on trying to prove himself that he'd screwed up and embarrassed himself even more Even if Seto hadn't seen it, the rest of the school probably had and would be talking bad about him all of tomorrow. He could only hope that Seto wouldn't make fun of him over it, he was embarrassed enough as it was.

            "…Joey must feel horrible, making himself look like an idiot twice in a day," Tea offered into the conversation, as if it didn't matter to her. It probably didn't. She was the little model of their group, it seemed. Kind of like a cheerleader that didn't do much more than stand there. She had no right to say things like that about him, he was sure that she would have lost even faster than he had. It would be amusing to see HER in that damn costume, or worse…as Duke's personal SLAVE! Joey had to try hard not to laugh at that image, feeling sorry for the both of them.

            "I guess I should say sorry, then…I didn't mean to embarrass him in the classroom like that…well, I guess I sort of did, but…I didn't think he'd actually fall for it." Joey glared at him, crossing his arms and sinking down in his chair, blushing slightly. This conversation was really starting to get on his nerves. Why did they always have to bring his stupidity into the conversation? He was well aware he was stupid; he heard it from everyone every day…they didn't have to rub it in his face. They were supposed to be his friends! Except maybe Tea and Duke, of course, they both irritated him…

            "I don't know Tea, Joey did alright…and I'm sure a lot of the people there would have fallen for that trick as well…" Yugi offered in his defense and Joey smiled, nodding his agreement.

            "Yeah, I bet you would have fallen for it too, Tea. You're not the brightest kid in class, either, you know," Joey offered in a sort of challenge, casting a glance over at Tea. Tea just glared back at him before going back to the conversation, deciding it wisest to ignore Joey's comment. She probably would have fallen for it to, she admitted to herself, but there was no way she was giving Joey the satisfaction of knowing that.

            "Guys, it's getting late. I really have to go home or I'm going to miss dinner," Tristan offered after a while, noticing how upset Joey looked. Like a good friend he was there to bail him out whenever he needed it. Besides, he was actually getting sort of hungry and he didn't have the money to buy anything. Therefore he wasn't lying, it was getting fairly late as far as he was concerned.

            "Yeah, now that you mention it Grandpa might be wondering what happened to me," Yugi offered, eyes growing wide as he stared at his watch. This wasn't going to be good. He'd told his grandpa he was going out, but he hadn't said for how long…this was WAY later than he'd thought.

            "I guess you're right," Tea offered politely, standing up with a sigh. She would be glad to be home and away from Joey's attitude anyway. Joey felt the same about her, of course. Neither of them was going to say it, though, for the sake of preserving what little maturity they were putting forth into the conversation.

            "I suppose now would be a rather opportune moment for you all to leave, seeing as we're not doing much more than talking. You can stop by any time, of course. I really am sorry about everything," Duke offered politely, standing up. Everyone smiled and nodded, saying their goodbyes as they turned to leave. "Oh, Joey, can I talk to you for a moment?" Joey blinked and turned around, nodding slightly. Duke smiled and waited until everyone had left, listening to the door latch softly behind them.

            "So, what'd you want?" Joey asked after a while of silence, crossing his arms and leaning back against the side of the nearest couch. Duke laughed slightly and brushed a bang back from his eyes, trying to think of how to go about this sort of thing. He'd only known the guy for a day, but…

            "Actually, I was kind of won…this isn't like me at all! Geeze! Would you so much as even consider going out with me? I know I was a bit of a jerk, but…" He managed, not sounding as nervous as he should. He was such a jerk to Joey but that was the way things went in the world, some people picked on the people they liked the most to hide it. Something about Joey's childish stupidity had attracted him within the few rare glimpses he'd had of him earlier and their meeting that day.

            "After what you did to me out there you expect me to go out with you?" Joey asked incredulously, eyes growing wide. Who in their right mind would just come out and ask something like that? Not even he was that brave…or stupid, for that matter.

            "Yeah, I guess so. Well…not really, actually. I was just wondering if you would consider it," he managed with a small smile and Joey sighed, running fingers through his hair. Things were just getting weirder and weirder as of late. It could really take its toll on a person. Only a few days ago no one had cared about him outside his little group of friends. Suddenly Seto was willing to attempt being friends, Mokuba was acting like his own little brother, and some guy he'd only just met had just asked him out! He didn't know what the hell he was supposed to do…

            "Sorry, but I already have my hopes set on someone else," Joey managed after a while, feeling his cheeks grow hot at the very thought. He hated this subject, really he did. It was awkward enough admitting to himself that he liked a guy, but to another GUY…who happened to like HIM, no less…it was just unnerving.

            "Really now? That brown-haired friend of yours?" Tristan? Tea? No way. That was just…wrong, on many levels. Sure, Tristan was a good friend but Joey wouldn't date him, and Tea got on his nerves so badly…and he was almost positive that he wasn't referring to Seto, since everyone in the school knew him by name…and also that they didn't get along very well. Absently he wondered if Duke would be surprised to find out that he actually liked the biggest asshole in the school…he sure as hell was.

            "No, not really. I…kind of like Kaiba…" he managed softly, blushing a little bit. He could hear Duke trying not to laugh from the other side of the room and he shot him an evil sort of glare. It was nothing to rival Seto's, but threatening non-the-less. Duke's laughter really wasn't helping his situation at the moment. He was embarrassed enough as was. Duke shook his head slowly, still smiling and trying to keep himself from laughing.

            "It's not like that's anything bad, it's just…I couldn't see someone like you falling for someone like him. You're so different. Plus, almost everyone's given up on Kaiba already. No offense but he's one hell of an asshole." Joey shook his head and pressed a finger to his chest, smiling widely.

            "I haven't given up on him, and that's why I'll win. Whether he likes me back or not, I'll at least get him to recognize me as an equal," he offered happily, and Duke's smile changed from one of general amusement to admiration. There really was something special about Joey…too bad he was one of the only people to realize it. He was sure Seto would realize it, too, if he actually looked past Joey's simple-minded stupidity. True, Joey's task was much easier said than done, but if someone tried hard enough…he was sure Joey could accomplish anything he set his mind to.

            "Well, if you need someone to talk to, you can always talk to me. Not sure why you'd want to, but just in case...I'll listen." Joey smiled and nodded, flashing him a thumbs-up.

            "You'll be the first person I'll turn to. To tell the truth, you're the only person I've told. A little scared to tell anyone else." Duke laughed and nodded slowly.

            "I feel honored," he offered happily, and Joey just smiled wider. He wasn't so bad…once you actually got past the fact that he loved to tease people and jumped to conclusions easily…kind of like Seto, once you got past his cruelness. "Or maybe just far enough out of the group, huh?" Joey shrugged. Duke just shook his head and walked over to the window, glancing down at the group hanging around outside. "Your friends are waiting for you, you might want to leave." Joey nodded and walked over to the door, stopping as his hand rested on the doorknob.

            "Thanks for your help," Joey offered before he opened the door and left, shutting it behind him carefully. He sighed as he walked down the hallways, massively confused. This wasn't one of those things you learned to deal with through school and all that, it was one of those things you learned through experience…something that Joey had none of.

            "Joey! Hey, what did Duke want?" Yugi asked as Joey finally stepped out into the fading sunlight, surprised at how dark it was getting in such a short time. He wasn't going to make it back to Seto's house while it was still light outside, that was for sure. He couldn't even run and make it there in time, he was sure of it.

            "Nothing important, really. Don't worry about it," Joey offered as casually as he could manage, wanting to head 'home' as soon as possible. He also didn't want anyone to press the issue, as he didn't feel like lying, nor like telling them something Duke hadn't meant for them to know. If he'd wanted them to know he wouldn't have had them all leave first, would he have? "Come on, let's start walking. I'd prefer if the sun didn't set before I got home," he offered as casually as possible. He wasn't afraid of walking alone after dark (he'd done it enough) but he needed an excuse. Besides, it wasn't necessarily something he enjoyed doing. It got colder after sunset, after all.

            "Yeah, I agree with Joey. We should start towards home," Tristan offered, backing his friend up once again. He knew Joey wasn't really worried about the sun setting…that he just wanted to get back and laze-off. They'd been friends long enough that Tristan could tell when he wasn't telling the truth. It was rare that Joey lied about anything, but he made up excuses all the time. He didn't think of it as lying, only as a way to get your point across by appealing to other people's fears, wants, and opinions.

            "I agree. Hay, if you guys want you can all use my phone to call your house when we get there. I don't live that far from here, you know," Yugi offered sweetly, hoping to spend some more time with his friends. He knew that Tristan and Tea had to walk the other way home from here, so it was only going to be him and Joey this time around.

            "I guess I could use the phone for a moment, if your grandpa doesn't mind. Besides, since Joey's so afraid of the dark I might as well walk with him," Tristan offered, nudging Joey lightly. Joey glared at him but didn't say a word as his friend smiled back at him. They both knew it was all in good fun, and Joey wasn't in the mood to continue this argument at the moment. He was too confused and exhausted. His brain was actually starting to hurt.

            "Well, I'm just going to head home, since it's faster this way. Talk to you guys later," Tea offered with a smile, waving and heading off in the other direction. None of them were worried about her, she lived close enough that she'd probably make it to her house before any of them reached Yugi's place. She was the one that was least likely to get into trouble out of all of them.

            "Bye," they offered as they waved as well, watching for a short while as she headed in the opposite direction. Like or dislike her it was cruel not to make sure she didn't get into trouble…at least for a little while.

            "Okay, let's get started. I'm going to have to run to get home at this rate," Tristan offered, turning around and waiting for the others to start on their way as well. He knew that Joey had to go the other way as well, so they would both have to run after they got to Yugi's place. They had to pretend Joey was going to his house so Joey, at least, had no choice other than backtracking. He wasn't about to make his friend walk all that way by himself, though.

            The walk started off in silence, everyone so lost in their own thoughts that no one really bothered to speak. Even the slightest attempt at conversation was sure to be brushed aside anyway, seeing as each of them had something else on their mind. However, after a short while even these thoughts dimmed and an attempt at conversation was made. Useless conversation, really, but something to keep the atmosphere at a more friendly level.

            It wasn't until Tristan was done calling home that the actual important conversation began. "So…how are things going with you?" Tristan asked as they walked around Yugi's block casually, making the turn-around for the way back to his house. He was still a little wary about Joey staying with Seto. He didn't necessarily have a reputation for being a nice guy.

            "Pretty well, I guess. I mean, I'm not dead, right?" Joey asked with a reassuring smile. Tristan wasn't too relieved, though. "Don't worry, I'm fine. Mokuba will protect me even if Kaiba does try anything. You know Kaiba'll do anything for his little brother." Tristan laughed and rested a hand on his friend's head, messing with his hair.

            "What are you going to do, take the poor kid hostage?" Joey growled at him and batted his hand away, trying to fix his hair as they continued walking.

            "I'm not that mean," he whined, burying his hands in his pockets when he was satisfied with his hair. It wasn't that he was worried so much about how it looked, he just didn't like that 'touched' feeling. It was a personal pet peeve of his. Of course, that didn't stop him from doing it to other people…

            "I think Kaiba would probably kill you faster if you were to try something like that," Tristan offered with a smile, stopping as they reached his doorstep. He could trust Joey to get home by himself, that wasn't the problem. He wasn't so sure that Seto was going to let him in so easily after being so late. He should have called, too. He worried about things like that; it was something that came along with being Joey's best friend. "You sure you're going to be alright?"

            "Tristan, you don't have to worry so much. Geeze. No offense but it's getting kind of annoying." Tristan just sighed as he turned his key in the lock, opening the door slightly.

            "I guess, but I don't know Kaiba all that well—and neither do you for that matter—so I don't really know what to expect from him. If you do need to stop by, though, go right on ahead. You know I probably won't be sleeping anyway." Joey smiled and nodded, waving goodbye before turning to run back to Seto's house.

            "I'm back, Kaiba!" He cheered happily as he ran into the living room, bright smile lighting up his face. He was panting and out of breath but he'd made it back just before 8. That was pretty good timing for him. Seto just turned to stare at him, looking bored. Oh well, at least he wasn't mad, that was always a good thing.

            "You're late." Joey just laughed nervously and nodded, knowing somehow that he really was getting somewhere…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

WHEE! It took forever and it sucks, but at least it's finished, huh? Sorry it took so long, but I had a lot of troubles writing this chapter and what with the fic-loss thingy I've been trying to catch up on other things…but ANYWAY, on with it…

MANDATORY MOKUBA KIDNAPPING PART 5:

Joey: So if I kidnap Mokuba, then Kaiba will love me?

Tristan: Um…maybe not…

Mokuba: *playing video games* I'm ignoring them because I can

Joey: *sneaks up and kidnaps Mokuba*

Seto: -_- Let go of him

Mokuba: O.O Why is it always me?

Joey: Um…because you're cute? ^_^;;

Mokuba: I guess that makes sense

Seto: He is my brother after all…now let go.

Joey: *Lets go*

Tristan: You are such an idiot…

Joey: If I act like Mokuba will you love me?

Seto: …

Joey: Please?

Seto: …

Mokuba: Oh yeah, I rule. Everyone wants to be like me. ^_^

*begs for reviews* I promise I'll try very hard not to take so long on the next chapter, but I need nice l'il motivational reviews, as do most authors deep down.

We need a national 'review the fanfic author-people' week, seriously ^_^;;


	6. Everything changes

Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh doesn't belong to me, but that doesn't mean I can't twist it to my liking in my fanfiction…okay, so maybe it does, but that isn't stopping me.

Warnings: Still SetoxJoey/JoeyxSeto, I still haven't decided which yet.

Sorry for the long time between updates, please bear with me!

~*Beauty and the Beast*~

            Joey sighed as he sat down on the large sofa conveniently placed in the center of Seto's very large living room. Like he really needed all the extra space. Joey could be almost certain Mokuba was the only person to take full advantage of what was given to them in these rather spacious living arrangements.

            Thinking of Mokuba, things were a lot quieter without him around. Today was a half-day for the high school, but poor little Mokuba was still stuck in school. While Joey normally would have taken the opportunity to run for the arcades and hang out with his friends, he'd sort of been hoping Seto would do something other than work on this all-too-glorious half day. He just had a FEELING something was going to come out of today. Unfortunately, he had no idea if this was a good or bad sign.

            Sighing again he moved to lie down, stretching his legs over the soft fabric of the couch and closing his eyes. He rather enjoyed it here, it was like a home away from home…maybe even more of a home to him than his house was. Seto treated him semi-decently for the most part…whenever he was around, at least. He could only hope that Seto would at least let him visit after his stay there was finished. He didn't want to loose the comforting elegance of it all, or the bond he had started to form with Seto. It was a tiny, fragile bond, but it was there, and he would do anything not to break it.

            "Get your feet off my couch." Joey blinked as a familiar voice cut into his mind, wondering for a minute if he was dreaming. True, it wasn't a very pleasant dream if he was, but it was the only reasonable explanation for the voice he was hearing at the moment. Hell, he couldn't even register if he had been asleep or not. "Are you deaf or something, get your feet off," Seto tried again, sounding even more forceful. Joey sat up quickly, turning to smile innocently at Seto.

            "And why are you down here all of a sudden? Just feel this sudden need to baby-sit me, or were you lonely?" Joey teased as Seto sat down next to him without a word. His silence wasn't very reassuring, that was for sure. "Was I right?" he asked in that overly-sweet voice of his, leaning his head on Seto's shoulder and glancing up at him as cutely as he could manage.

            "Shove off. It was too quiet and I couldn't work. I came down here to make sure you weren't wrecking my house. Get off already, damn you!" Seto demanded harshly, pushing Joey away from him. He could feel his cheeks heating up already, and he hadn't the slightest idea as to why. It just pissed him off, not being able to understand why he did some of the things he did. It was all Joey's fault, that was for sure, and so he felt the need to take his frustrations out on the source of his problems.

            "Aw, Kaiba was worried about me," Joey teased again, having caught the blush on Kaiba's cheeks earlier. Maybe he was finally starting to get somewhere. It never hurt to hope, did it? "Maybe he likes me," he tried again, staring off into space dreamily. If there was one thing he knew how to do well it was get on people's nerves. It was like a born quality or something…although most people would call it a personality flaw Joey considered it a blessing. Seto was glaring at him, looking like he was about to murder someone at any moment.

            "Keep dreaming," Seto snapped, crossing his arms and looking the other way. There was no way he was going to let Joey see what his comments were doing to him, that was for certain. He didn't like Joey; there was no doubt in his mind about that. Maybe as a friend, but only a tiny bit. The boy was still generally loud and annoying, and for the most part tended to annoy him. However, there was no denying that his teasing was getting on his nerves…in a way he couldn't quite understand.

            "Oh, I do, every night. Believe me, I lay awake and stare at your ceiling, waiting for you to ride in on a beautiful white horse and take me away from this hellish life." Joey placed a hand to his head and stared at the ceiling, being unnecessarily dramatic with it all. He smiled as Seto stared at him in confusion, obviously wondering what the hell he was doing. "Come on, you don't have to be so serious all the time…do you?"

            "No, I don't," Seto answered in a straight monotone, giving up on understanding Joey at all. They were too different; they were never really going to understand one another. However, Joey's words kept circling his mind, it was slowly driving him insane. Seto sighed and tried to relax, wished that Mokuba was home to disrupt the awkward silence that had grown over the two of them.

            "Aren't you tired? Balancing school and work must be really tough," Joey tried again after a while, giving up on trying to get a reaction out of Seto. A normal conversation would be welcome at the moment; he needed a normal conversation to distract him from the thoughts that were running through his mind. There was no way in hell he was going to try anything unless Seto did…he was too afraid.

            "Probably." Joey laughed, leaning back into the soft cushions of Seto's couch comfortably.

            "Probably? You don't know whether you're tired or not?" he asked after a while, staring at the ceiling as he talked. It wasn't as if there was nothing to stare at. There was a strange enough design on his ceiling that when trying to get out of an argument one didn't have to pretend to be interested in something else. His house seemed to be made for distracting people from actually looking at him. Joey couldn't see why, though. Seto was better than any fancy wallpaper or ceiling design could ever be. Man, he was thinking way too hard about stupid things.

            "I suppose."

            "Well aren't you talkative today," Joey teased with a raised eyebrow, wishing Seto would say something more. He was getting sick of running the conversation…he'd done that enough in his life. It was about time that Seto controlled a conversation outside of school and work.

            "And you're so quiet yourself. It's outstanding, let me tell you," Seto complained, wishing that Joey would either pick something interesting to talk about or shut up and let him think. He wasn't there to be teased or mocked, he was there because…

            …actually, he had no idea why he was there.

            "Alright already. Geeze, I'm just trying to be nice. It's called conversation, you know?" Joey snapped, growing irritated. It was like Seto tried to keep people away from him. Like he wanted people to hate him or something. It didn't make sense, but that was the impression he was starting to get.

            "Maybe I don't want to talk…or maybe I just don't find what you have to say interesting." Joey had been about ready to call it quits when Seto had continued speaking. Things certainly were getting stranger by the minute, weren't they? First Seto came downstairs for no reason, and then he actually spoke…sort of.

            "Alright then, what do you want to talk about?" Joey tried after a while of silence. He wasn't going to sit there and rot away when such an opportunity presented itself, that was for sure. It wasn't every day Seto actually started a conversation with someone. Well, he was sort of starting a conversation, anyway.

            "Nothing. Can't you keep quite for more than ten minutes?" Seto snapped, growing irritated. He wasn't quite sure what it was that was keeping him there, anyway. There was nothing he wanted to do more than climb back up those stairs and…do what? That was the question. He was growing sick of work, that was for sure. Maybe that was what was keeping him down there, the fact that talking to Joey was at least something. Or maybe it was because even in Joey he found company, and no matter how arrogant and cruel he may seem, he still longed for human contact. For companionship…to a certain degree, at least.

            "If I wanted to I could, but I don't want to." Seto growled, patience growing thin. What was it with that boy, that he had to push everything too far before he finally stopped? Was he really so stupid?

            "Why does it have to be about you? You're a guest in my house after all," Seto griped, getting sick of this pointless bickering. He wasn't going to back down, though. That was for sure. Seto Kaiba was not going to give in to a blonde, loudmouth brat while in his own territory. If Joey hadn't been staying there he was sure he would have walked off long ago and ignored him. However, different situations called for different measures.

            "It isn't always about me, you spoiled little…why can't it be about someone other than you for once?" Joey bitched, glaring at Seto for all he was worth. Why was Seto always so combative? This had all started with a simple little attempt at conversation and Seto had turned it into an argument.

            "Watch what you say, brat, if you want to stay here!" Seto snapped, losing his cool. He was getting sick of hearing it, and Joey had just crossed the line. Joey opened his mouth to say something in his defense, but sighed and decided it would be best to drop it. They weren't going to get anywhere if they kept on fighting like this.

            "Sorry, I just figured it might be nice to hold a normal conversation with you for once…and if you don't want me here, I'll leave. You know you don't have to let me stay here anymore." Seto's eyes grew slightly wider at mention of that fact. He'd completely forgotten about that. He didn't have to deal with Joey's annoying personality anymore…but at the same time he'd be losing the company he'd grown used to. As much as he hated to admit it, he liked having someone his age around, for as different as they were Joey at least understood a little bit about him.

            They were silent for a long time after that, neither one of them able to think of something they wanted to talk about, but at the same time growing irritated with the silence. It was all right for a while, but after a bit even the most peaceful of silences become increasingly awkward.

            "You said once you had a sister, right?" Seto asked quickly, feeling his cheeks grow hot. He'd never been the one to break an awkward silence before. He was normally the cause of them, and left before anyone could do anything about it. Joey blinked, surprised that Seto had actually spoken. It took him a while to register what he'd said, but when finally his mind caught up with his ears he nodded, smiling slightly.

            "Yeah, I do." Seto tried to think of something more to say, confused. He didn't know why this silence was bothering him so much, but it was. It didn't seem to be bothering Joey at all, but he couldn't deal with it. Normally he craved silence, but now it was bothering him. Maybe it was just the fact that Joey and silent never fit into the same sentence easily; it was making things seem a lot more out of place.

            "Older or younger than you?" he asked softly, feeling like an idiot. He wasn't particularly interested in what Joey had to say, but getting him to talk was a step forward, closer towards his normal self. Seto had to wonder for a moment if subconsciously he'd been worried about Joey because of his silence, but quickly dismissed the idea. Why in the world would he worry about him?

            "Younger, so I'm sorry to say you can't date her," Joey teased, smile growing slightly more genuine, less sad. Seto raised an eyebrow, slightly confused where Joey had gotten that idea. "Oh come on, a girl as sexy as I am…you know you want to date her."

            "Really, now? If she's as sexy as you are I pity her," Seto teased in return, surprised he actually wasn't all too annoyed with this conversation. As much as he hated being teased, for the first time he didn't feel like Joey was trying to make him feel self-conscious or uncomfortable with it. It made him a lot less irritable.

            "Heh. You'll be sorry one day. You'll be begging to date her and then I'll have to beat you up to keep you away from her." The conversation continued much more smoothly from there, and slowly Seto learned a little bit more about Joey, which was a surprising yet pleasant change. Normally Joey was the one learning something new about Seto, leaving the blonde as a total mystery to him. However, Seto's alarm broke their conversation short, disappointing the blonde to no end. Seto was going to go pick Mokuba up and then return to work, and then things were going to return to normal. No more conversations, no more hanging out. Just Joey watching TV, Mokuba playing video games, and Seto working, same as always.

            Joey sighed as Seto left without so much as a good-bye, just a simple 'I'll be leaving now, don't wreck anything.' He could almost literally feel the heavy silence of Seto's house falling down upon him. He wished desperately that he had a CD or something to listen to, anything to drown out the lonely sound of the TV against the silence of an almost-empty house.

            "You should have just gone with him, idiot," Joey berated himself as he wandered the halls, hands crossed behind his head. He didn't see why he hadn't thought to ask to tag along with him. However, he had a sneaking suspicion that the second they had gotten into the car they would have gone back to being enemies again. He was sure Seto had only been talking to him to pass time faster, but he had to admit that he'd enjoyed it. It had been nice to pretend that he and Seto actually got along for a while.

            Time seemed to pass excruciatingly slow as Joey wandered around aimlessly, looking for something different to do. He was getting sick of sitting on his ass and watching TV. He was going to get fat, and that thought annoyed him greatly. A body like his shouldn't go to waste like that. However, the ticking of the millions of clocks in Seto's house was slowly driving him insane, each one of them there to remind him that valuable moments of his life were being wasted slowly but surely. Who in the world actually needed that many clocks? Whatever the reason, Joey was thankful that at least the headache he was getting actually gave him somewhere to walk to. A sort of miniature purpose in life.

            Dropping his hands down to his sides, he walked halfway across the house towards the kitchen. He could go for something to eat, too, now that he thought about it. He'd forgotten that he hadn't eaten lunch yet, seeing as Seto was in a rush to get home and he couldn't be late getting to his house to be picked up. Therefore he'd been forced to forfeit lunch with his friends, however weird that must have seemed to all of them.

            He blinked as he realized the kitchen doors were closed. Funny, they were almost always open…at least as far as he could remember, anyway. He vaguely remembered hearing Mokuba say something about it once, but he couldn't remember what it was right now, and it really didn't matter. He didn't feel a need to remember everything everyone said to him all the time. It was just a waste of time, in his opinion.

            Opening the door carefully Joey felt around for a light switch, wondering if anyone was working or if he was going to have to cook for himself. Not like it was a disaster if he did, he wasn't all that bad of a cook…in his own opinion, at least. He blinked as he found the switch and flipped on the lights, taking a look around carefully. He hadn't found the kitchen, that was for sure. Maybe he'd taken a wrong turn somewhere or other, or maybe he'd just gone too far down the hallway. Either way, he was rather curious as to where he was. Boxes lined the walls and floor randomly, a few open and the rest closed.

            Moving carefully he walked towards the closest open box, almost as if he knew he wasn't supposed to be there. Kneeling next to it he opened it further, glancing inside. A few pictures lay scattered over a pile of books and papers inside it, and Joey couldn't help but take a quick look at them. He smiled to himself as he caught sight of the kids in the picture, lifting a particularly good one out of the box carefully to see it more clearly.

            It was Seto and Mokuba, probably a good six or seven years ago. Maybe even longer than that, Joey couldn't be sure from the picture. It must have been a long time ago, however, as Seto didn't look like he hated the world back then. You'd think a person like Seto would never have been able to smile and play happily, but he guessed even assholes were innocent young children at some point. Grabbing a few more pictures, Joey looked through them slowly, enjoying the small glimpse into the more human side of Seto, before his eyes grew so empty and cold, and he actually smiled without a second thought.

            "You were cute as a kid," Joey mumbled bitterly, wishing Seto could have stayed that way. He much rather preferred the idea of a friendly, nice Seto to the cold asshole everyone was used to. However, he couldn't be sure he'd ever have gotten the opportunity to get to know him if it wasn't for that cold emotionless side, and that was a rather depressing thought in itself.

            "I know, now put it down." Joey jumped as someone whispered in his ear, turning quickly to stare at his new companion. Seto didn't look particularly pleased with him, and for good reason, too. Joey should have known better the to snoop around in Seto's things. It hadn't been his business. "God, are you stupid or something?" Seto snapped, grabbing the pictures from Joey and throwing them back in the box he'd gotten them from. "What the hell are you doing in here, anyway?"

            "Got lost and found my way here. I was just curious as to what was in the boxes. Sorry." Seto sighed and sat down on the floor next to Joey, leaning back on his hands and thinking. He didn't like it when other people touched his stuff, that was for sure, but at the same time…he was considering letting Joey continue his explorations if he wanted to. He doubted anyone really cared about what was there, but he honestly didn't care if Joey pried a little bit into his life, for some reason or another.

            "Well, are you going to continue looking or are you done?" Seto snapped after a while of silence, growing sick of Joey's nervous fidgeting. He pulled the box between the two of them and waited, almost hoping that Joey would show at least some interest. He wanted people to like him, honestly he did, he just had troubles making friends. He hadn't always been so hopeless, though, and he kept those pictures around to remind himself that he wasn't all that bad of a person sometimes. Whenever he was feeling particularly hated he'd look through them and remind himself that at least he still had Mokuba, so he couldn't have changed too much.

            "So…how old were you?" Joey asked, scooting over to sit next to Seto as he removed the pictures again, flipping through them just as slowly, taking his time to admire the hidden side of Seto.

            "I don't remember, and it's not like it really matters." Joey nodded slowly and held out a picture, examining it from all sorts of angels before turning towards Seto. Carefully he examined the differences between child Seto and asshole Seto, trying to find bits of his childhood self in the person he knew now. There had to be at least something left. "What are you doing?" Seto asked after a while, feeling a bit uncomfortable with being stared at so intently. It was making him feel funny again, and he didn't like it. It was really starting to bother him now.

            "Eh, just checking. Wanted to see if that's really you, because you look almost nothing alike," Joey answered easily, and almost immediately Seto snatched the picture away from him, looking at it himself. There had to be at least something, right? People didn't change entirely from their childhood selves'…right?

            "Who cares if we look the same, that has nothing to do with me." With that Seto dropped the picture back into its box and went back to thinking. There was really nothing more for him to do in there. True, he had work that had to be done, but he didn't want Joey ruining or stealing his things, either. They may not have been worth much, but they meant something to him, as weird as that might have seemed. Most people seemed to think he had no human emotions or habits, but even he liked to think back on the better, happier days. Back before he found out how much everyone really hated him.

            "Hey Seto, who's the chick?" Joey asked in that annoying tone of his, leaning forward as he displayed the picture to Seto, grinning evilly. "She your childhood girlfriend or something?" he teased, waiting for a response. Seto glared at him for a while before taking the picture from him harshly, staring at the girl in the picture. She looked about the same age as him, with red curly hair and a light blue dress. He could almost remember her, but only barely. He was sure he must have known her at some point or another.

            "No, I don't date." Joey rolled his eyes; sitting back and taking the picture back from Seto. He dropped it back into the box carefully and set the other pictures down so he could finish this conversation.

            "Why not? It's a bit of a waste, isn't it?" Joey asked, honestly curious. He would love to have girls all over him like Seto did…or used to, at least, before they tried to talk to him. Now they all just stared at him from afar and complained about how it was such a pity that such a cute guy was such an asshole to just about everyone.

            "I don't think so. I don't like people, so why should I bother trying to date them? Besides, no one likes me anyway," Seto offered in his defense, sounding actually rather sad about it. Did he want to date? Why didn't he, then? It didn't make any sense.

            "A lot of girls like you, what are you talking about?" Joey asked with raised eyebrows, confused. Seto used to be the guy every girl wanted to go out with. He was still rather popular around the school. Any girl he wanted he could have without any sort of hassle.

            "No they don't. They think I'm cute. They don't like me." Joey nodded slowly, finally understanding what Seto was talking about. That was his own fault, though, wasn't it? I mean, if he just acted nicer he was sure people would like him for who he was. He liked him, so he was sure other people would, too if people got to know him. But at the same time, that would make it a lot easier for Seto to get hurt. Seto was too busy protecting himself to worry about making friends.

            "If it helps any, I like you," Joey offered, instantly wishing he hadn't said that aloud. Seto blinked and turned to stare at him, confused. Joey…liked him? Someone in this world actually didn't hate him? Joey obviously didn't know what he was saying. No one would like an asshole like him; even he would have hated himself. He wouldn't put it past the idiot to just say it to make him feel better.

            "I don't like liars," Seto said coldly, glaring at Joey. He had to be lying, HAD to be. Even if he wasn't lying, Seto didn't believe he deserved for anyone to like him, especially not Joey. What with all the mean things he said to him, about him…all the things he did to his friends, why would he care?

            "I'm not lying. I like you. You're nice…in a weird, twisted, awkward sort of way." Joey was getting a little frustrated now. He didn't like being called a liar, and he couldn't see why Seto didn't believe him. He let him stay there, and he let him win in a card battle that cost him both his pride and $127. There was no way he could be a total asshole if he did those sorts of things for people.

            "You called me a spoiled brat earlier," Seto pointed out, growing ever more confused. It wasn't like him to be so out of it. He should have just told him to shut up and leave him alone, to stop teasing him, but he couldn't. Maybe it was his unconscious hope for a friend that kept him from being able to scream at him…or maybe he was actually enjoying hearing Joey say good things about him. He couldn't be sure, but he just couldn't make himself be angry with Joey.

            "No I didn't, I called you spoiled." Joey hadn't even realized how much closer he was to Seto until now, and it scared him. They were almost nose-to-nose now, and he was sure Seto wasn't aware of it either; both of them were so focused on proving their point.

"Spoiled people are brats." Joey growled, getting sick of arguing with Seto over whether he was a good person or not. Seto was glaring at him in return, seemingly dead-set on winning this argument. Damn it was getting annoying.

            "Not all of them. You're not." Seto opened his mouth to protest when, without warning, Joey leaned forward quickly, pressing his lips to Seto's and hoping to God he wasn't going to get killed for this. Thinking back on it, it had been a rather stupid move, but there was no way to go back and fix it now. He could only hope Seto wasn't really going to kill him when he finally realized what was going on.

            Seto's eyes grew wide as his present situation clicked in his mind, surprised and confused all at once. Why in the world was Joey kissing him…and why the hell didn't he mind? What the hell was wrong with him, letting a boy kiss him like that? However, despite his mind's protest blue eyes closed slowly as Joey didn't pull away, and a hand reached up to touch the other boy's cheek gently. However, Seto's mind was still racing, his mind protesting everything he was doing even as he subconsciously did it.

            However, as slender fingers touched Joey's cheek softly everything shattered, and Seto moved his hand to his shoulder instead to push him away roughly.

            "What the hell is WRONG with you?" He screamed, standing up quickly and covering his mouth as he stared down at Joey in disbelief. How in the world could he have let himself…he'd…he'd just been kissed…by a BOY! A loudmouth, annoying boy for that matter…and he'd liked it! What the hell was going on? Why wasn't anything making sense anymore?

            Joey just stared up at Seto, absolutely confused. Just two seconds ago Seto hadn't minded, now he looked furious and absolutely disgusted. Joey opened his mouth to make up some sort of an excuse for himself but Seto cut him off immediately.

            "I don't care about your lame excuses. Get the hell out of my house and never come near me again. You sick, twisted, little…" Seto couldn't even finish his sentence, he was so mad. His cheeks were burning red and that only made him more upset. Why wasn't he in control of his own body anymore? Without another word he stormed out of the room, keeping a hand clamped firmly over his mouth. However, he stopped abruptly at the end of the hallway and waited for the sound of Joey's footsteps to assure him that he was leaving. However, those footsteps never came.

            "I said get out! Are you stupid or are you trying to piss me off?" Seto screamed back at him, marching back to the doorway and glaring at him, dropping his hand back down to his side. When Joey made no effort to move Seto stormed inside and grabbed his bruised wrist tightly, pulling him up quickly and harshly. Joey stared back at him with wide eyes, looking both scared and confused as he tried to pull Seto's hand off his wrist. "Leave," he demanded one last time and let go, and Joey nodded slowly, rubbing at his sore wrist. He was still so damn confused, but he figured it was probably in his best interest to go to Tristan's house now an leave Seto alone.

            God had he screwed things up this time…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

SHE LIVES~!!! Didya'll miss me? I thought so. I finally finished up with this chapter after working on it for so long, so be happy ^_^

I promised a friend I would finish this chapter by today so I did, so you can all thank her later (or hate her for making me post such crap).

However, I'm never too tired to write yet another really messed up

MANDATORY MOKUBA KIDNAPPING PART 6:

Mokuba: So…Joey kissed my brother…

Seto: *still brushing teeth*

Joey: Yeah.

Mokuba: and…Seto…?

Joey: Is cleansing himself

Mokuba: So does that mean…that you two aren't going to get together then?

Anime-club friend of PG who bribed her into writing this by Saturday: Not if I can help it!

Seto: Like hell…

Anime-club friend: Oh yeah? *Takes Mokuba hostage*

Mokuba: WHY ME?!?!

Joey: Um…how is that supposed to get us together?

Seto: Give me back my brother -_-

Anime-club friend: First you have to kiss Joey.

Seto: -_-

Joey: ^_^

Mokuba: Couldn't you have used someone else for that? I'm getting sick of being kidnapped… -_-

Lots of love to the people who read this story, especially to those of you who have been waiting for updates. Sorry it took so long, but it's finally here! I hope you guys haven't given up on me, yet.


	7. Plans and promises

Disclaimers: Nope, I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, although my birthday is coming up. Anyone want to give me the rights to it?

Notes: Yup, it's still chock full of shounen ai and all that good stuff. JoeyxSeto/SetoxJoey, I'm still not sure which X_x

~*Beauty and the Beast*~

            Seto stared at himself long and hard in the mirror as he finally decided he wasn't going to get any cleaner, no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't believe himself…how he could have let a boy kiss him was completely beyond his comprehension. His cheeks were still faintly red, and Seto was surprised to see how absolutely helpless he appeared. He didn't like that feeling, not one bit. He hated the idea of being helpless, especially since this was all Joey's fault. How in the world could Joey have thought it would be ALL RIGHT for him to kiss him? No one was that stupid.

            Taking another deep breath, Seto tried to figure this all out. However, his mind kept going back to Joey…kept on thinking about that damned kiss. What the hell…? Why couldn't he stop thinking about it? Joey was gone, out of his sight for good. It would never happen again, which was a good thing, but…

            Why did he feel so helpless and alone all of a sudden?

            Seto walked back into his room slowly, still feeling completely overwhelmed by all the things racing through his mind. He was lonely, he was confused. Scared, sad, angry, tired, he was all those things at once. He couldn't keep his mind off Joey for more than a few seconds, and that in itself was driving him crazy. Collapsing into his chair Seto buried his face into his hands, giving up on rationalizing his situation and trying instead to just calm himself down and sort out his emotions.

            "Seto, someone called for you…what's wrong?" Mokuba asked, blinking as he noticed Seto wasn't being his normal, over-worked self. What in the world could have happened in the ten minutes he hadn't been around? Seto had seemed just fine when he'd picked him up, now he seemed like something was definitely bothering him.

            "It's nothing, who called?" Seto asked in his normal business-like manner, folding his arms over his desk instead and trying to act as if nothing had happened. It was harder than he would have thought. That was unusual, too…this shouldn't have been that hard for him, he hid himself so well from the rest of the world, why couldn't he hide now? Why was this affecting him so much? There was something much more to it than just a kiss. The feelings behind it…that was what was freaking him out. How Joey could have felt strongly enough to KISS him…and how Seto hadn't felt the need to push him away until it was too late. That was what was messing with his mind so.

            "I can't remember, but I wrote it down near the phone," Mokuba answered blankly, still not convinced Seto was all right. He knew his brother better than anyone else; he wasn't fooled as easily as the others. It didn't help that Seto wasn't doing a very good job of hiding himself today, and that was another hint to Mokuba that something was very wrong. Seto nodded and stood up slowly. He guessed he might as well call them back. It was something to get his mind off Joey, at the very least. "Tell me what's wrong, please?" Mokuba tried again, watching as his brother walked past him and out of the room without so much as a word.

            "Maybe later, alright?" Seto answered, sounding tired. Mokuba nodded and followed after him quickly. He was getting sick of his video games, and figured while Seto was on the phone he might as well watch TV with Joey. Joey was always watching TV, and he could keep a better eye on Seto while he was down there. Watching TV with Joey was a lot more fun than playing boring old video games, anyway. He didn't like being alone, as used to it as he was. "Great, more work…" Mokuba barely heard Seto mutter under his breath as he walked into the living room. The TV was on, which meant Joey couldn't have been napping.

            Mokuba blinked as he was met with the sight of an empty room. Maybe Joey wasn't in there, running some errand or something. For a moment he wondered if maybe Joey had run off to get something to eat, even though he normally didn't do anything without permission. Maybe Seto had given it to him. That would explain why the TV was on even though no one was watching it…right? Whatever the reason, Mokuba sat down on the couch and flipped through the channels absently, not amused with what was on TV. Joey could change it back later.

            Mokuba could hear his brother talking with someone on the phone, and he turned the TV down even further, listening in on his conversation. It wasn't necessarily eavesdropping, since he wasn't really concerned with what Seto was saying, but he still felt rather bad for doing it. Seto definitely didn't sound well, though, and Mokuba was starting to worry that he was getting sick again. That wouldn't be much of a surprise; Seto had been working so hard recently. The tournament had really put him behind, and he was overworking himself trying to catch back up so quickly.

            Seto set down the phone with a dull click and stood there for a while, wondering what he was going to do next. He had a ton of work to do, but he just couldn't seem to focus on much of anything. He wasn't doing a very good job of hiding it, either. Even Mokuba had noticed there was something wrong. Damn that Joey for messing with him like this. He should have kicked the boy out when his damn friend had come home. Things would have been so much easier that way, and he could have avoided this whole mess. That stupid part of Seto that constantly reminded him how lonely he was, he was to blame. If Seto had given up hope and sent Joey off this never would have happened.

            Without a word Seto marched back to his room, determined to do something productive, if not only to prove to himself that Joey DIDN'T mean anything to him, after all.

            It was around dinnertime when Mokuba finally realized something was very wrong, and he made it his business to find out. As soon as Seto informed him that dinner was ready he ran to Joey's room, wondering why Joey would be avoiding him today. Joey was almost always watching TV, so the only reason Mokuba could find for why he hadn't joined him in the living room was because of that very fact…Joey didn't want to spend time with him. The TV had been on, which meant that Joey wasn't out with his friends, either. He was just avoiding Mokuba…probably Seto, too.

            However, Joey wasn't to be found in his room, either, and Mokuba grew even more curious as he walked back to the kitchen, still wondering over where Joey could had gone. He couldn't have left already; he seemed to like it here. Besides, he was sure that Joey and Seto had been making progress; Seto almost had a real friend! Why would Joey leave now, of all times? Why would someone leave when things were just starting to look up?

            "Why do you look so upset?" Seto asked as he sat down a few minutes later, knowing damn well why Mokuba looked upset, but not wanting to think on that matter right now. He was actually getting some work done now, which was a miracle all in itself. Obviously Joey didn't mean as much to him as he had started to think…and that thought was rather relieving. He was sort of hoping Mokuba would dismiss it, at least lie and say it was something else. Something to do with school, friends, anything like that would have been fine. However, much to Seto's disappointment, Mokuba was just as honest as he always was with his brother.

            "Seto…do you know where Joey is? I haven't seen him since I came home? Has it been a week already?" Mokuba asked quietly, starting to wonder about the time Joey had spent there. It couldn't have been a week, could it have? Time had seemed to move by so much faster since Joey had started staying there, maybe it really had been…

            "No, it hasn't, and I don't know where he is. He isn't here, though." Mokuba blinked before standing up suddenly, staring at his brother incredulously from across the table. "What?" Seto asked after a while, growing tired of that look. It seemed like he was being targeted with that look more and more frequently these days, and it was starting to get on his nerves.

            "Did you kick him out?" Seto refused to answer that, instead turned his attention to eating. It was none of Mokuba's business what he did with the annoying blonde anyway. He should be thankful the boy was gone, taking up space and being of no use to either of them. He was nothing more than a distraction…and a damn good one at that. Seto was still having troubles concentrating. "Seto, I can't believe you'd do that! Why do you have to push away everyone that wants to be your friend?" Mokuba demanded, looking like he was going to start crying at any minute now. He'd been so close…

            "Please stop trying to find friends for me, I don't need nor want them," Seto offered nonchalantly, not once looking up at his brother. He was trying to convince himself more than Mokuba now. He didn't want to deal with this; he really didn't want to have this argument. Not now, and not with his brother. Anyone else he could have glared at and shut up, but not Mokuba. Why was Mokuba taking Joey's side anyway?

            "You're lying! Seto…Joey actually liked you, why'd you have to go and be so mean to him?" Mokuba whined, slouching back into his chair with a sigh. "If only you weren't so stubborn…" he muttered under his breath, crossing his arms and pouting. Where would Joey go now, anyway? Didn't Seto care at all? What if he didn't have anywhere to stay?

            "I have my reasons."

            "Like what?" Mokuba demanded, still pouting in his seat. He couldn't believe anything Seto said would justify what he did. He was just being stubborn and cruel as always. What if Joey caught some sort of disease and died? It would be all Seto's fault.

            "He kissed me, alright? Can we drop this now?" Mokuba's eyes grew wide immediately, and for a while he was silent. Seto took this as a sign that the argument was finally over and was glad, standing up slowly. Maybe now Mokuba would see that he wasn't just bring a jerk…that he'd had a good reason to do what he did. "I'll be working in my room..."

            "You shouldn't have kicked him out," Mokuba whined again, cutting his brother off coldly. Mokuba sounded so determined and sure of himself, and Seto blinked a few times in confusion. Where had Mokuba gotten the ridiculous idea that HE was the one in the wrong here? "Well, you shouldn't have. Joey REALLY liked you, and all you can do is be mean to him?"

            "Mokuba…"

            "So what if he kissed you, at least that means he likes you for who you are and doesn't think you're a jerk, unlike everyone else! For once someone actually got to know you and like you, and you…" Seto stood staring at his brother for a moment, wondering where that had come from. Mokuba normally didn't dare argue with him like this. He just didn't understand the situation, did he…or was Seto the one that was looking at this all wrong? "I'm going to go find him," Mokuba stated, and he stood up as well, heading for the doorway.

            A strong hand at his wrist stopped him, and he froze in place, staring straight ahead. He wasn't going to look at Seto, he knew he'd end up giving in. "Seto, please let me go," Mokuba whined, knowing he couldn't get away.

            "You don't even know where to start looking, what makes you think you'll find him?" Seto asked in that cold manner of his, but inside he was giving in. He was starting to doubt what he'd done. Mokuba was silent, just turned his gaze to the floor and waited. "I'll see if he wants to come back tomorrow at school, alright? Just…drop it." Mokuba turned hopeful eyes on his brother, who in turn glanced down at the floor. "I'm not making any promises. He probably hates me, so don't get your hopes up," Seto answered in return to that look, letting go of Mokuba's wrist slowly. He'd finally admitted to himself the possibility that he'd overreacted, and now it was his problem to fix, not Mokuba's. It wasn't Mokuba's job to clean up his messes

            "Thank you!" Mokuba cheered, hugging his brother tightly. Seto was actually going to try for once. He wasn't just going to give up, and that thought gave Mokuba more hope than anything else.

            It was at this same moment, elsewhere in the city, that Joey looked up towards the huge building before him, wondering why he was there. He'd been wandering the streets for what had to be hours now, stopping here and there to just think. It wasn't doing him any good, however. He was well aware that he'd been wrong, and thinking about it wasn't changing the fact that it had happened. Seto probably considered him a freak by now, anyway. There wasn't anything he could do about it but try and apologize tomorrow during school…if Seto would even let him get within 20 feet of him, that was. He really couldn't think of anything else he could do but apologize and hope...

            Taking a deep breath Joey walked inside, immediately surrounded by the sounds of eager customers and giggling schoolgirls who had no idea what the items on the shelf were even for…they were only there to check out the cute boys (of which there were few). Needless to say, they were all waiting on one boy in particular.

            Turning towards the stairs Joey walked up them slowly, dreading each step. He was starting to regret coming here, even just a little bit. He didn't like dumping his problems on other people, but he felt like he had to talk to someone. This was the only comfort he had available to him, as strangely pathetic as that was.

            With yet another deep breath he knocked on the doors he knew led to Duke's room. It wasn't like he was losing anything whether Duke was there or not, but for some reason he dreaded it, and felt like he was going to be sick. Maybe he was afraid that Duke was going to tell him what his mind was refusing to believe at the moment: he didn't have a chance with Seto Kaiba. He'd NEVER had a chance with Seto Kaiba.

            His fingers had only barely touched the wood of the door when it was opened, and he found himself staring into the eyes of an all-too-cheery Duke. He had this sneaking suspicion that someone had been watching him earlier, as creepy as that was. He didn't understand why Duke was so cheery, though; there really wasn't much to be happy for today.

            "You got yourself into trouble, didn't you? I didn't figure it would take long," Duke teased as he motioned Joey inside, closing the door behind him. It wasn't hard to tell that Joey was in a bad mood, and Duke had a pretty good guess as to why. A certain brunette asshole was bound to be involved in this story.

            "Shut up," Joey snapped back, feeling unusually agitated with everything all of a sudden. Maybe this was how Seto felt all the time. It was a horrible feeling to have, but it explained Seto's problem with the world. There didn't seem to be anything backing it but a bad feeling and a short fuse. Was rejection what had triggered him into being such an asshole in the first place? Joey could remember something along those lines, but back then he'd thought it an absurd thought. But now, feeling the way he did after being faced with an actual, absolute hatred…he was sure after a while of dealing with it the feeling sank in and became permanent…or semi-permanent at least.

            "Sorry. I'd ask how things have been but the answer's pretty obvious, so I'm fresh out of things to say." Joey sighed as Duke sat down, feeling rather awkward, seeing as he was still standing and glancing around the room pointlessly. He thought about sitting for a few seconds, before thinking better of it and just burying his hands into his pockets.

            "Yeah. Kaiba kicked me out." Duke blinked a few times, obviously not comprehending the statement. That was to be expected, though. Joey hadn't been allowed to tell anyone he was staying with Seto, and he'd stuck by it…except for Tristan, but he was a sort of special case. Tristan would have made Joey stay with him if Joey hadn't told him where he was. "I was staying with Kaiba this week, but I made him angry." Angry was a bit of an understatement, but Joey wasn't going to come right out and say what an idiot he had been right after entering the room. That was no way to go about things, that was for sure.

            "Really? I didn't think Kaiba was the sort of person to let someone like you stay with him. No offense, of course, but it seems like you two drive each other insane." Joey nodded slowly, taking another deep breath. "You can sit if you want to, you know. You don't have to, but you can." Joey nodded and decided he might as well sit, it didn't seem like he'd be leaving anytime soon, anyway. "Would you be mad if I asked how you upset Kaiba so much? I know it's not hard to piss him off, but still…it's sort of obvious he liked you at least a little, if he was nice enough to let you stay with him."

            "I wouldn't get mad." Duke sat and waited patiently. He had things he was supposed to be doing, but if need be they could be pushed off until tomorrow. Joey had actually come to him for help, which was a miracle in itself. If the conversation hadn't been focused around Seto, he might have actually thought he had a chance. "I…I did something really stupid." Duke resisted the urge to remind Joey that him doing something stupid wasn't all too out of the ordinary. "I sorta…kissed him, and for a while he didn't seem to mind, but then he started screaming at me and kicked me out."

            "No offense, but I don't blame him." Joey didn't even bother to glare at Duke, just stared at the floor, clenching his hands and waiting for the insults he knew were coming. He was well aware he'd been stupid, but people loved to point that fact out to him anyway. It pissed him off. He blinked as he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up into Duke's eyes as he bent over to speak to him face-to-face. "I'm not going to scream at you, if that's what you think…I'm willing to bet Kaiba did enough of that already. I honestly don't know what you should do, though." Joey blushed slightly and nodded. He felt sort of weird being so close to Duke.

            Duke sighed and sat down next to Joey, trying to think. A blonde head rested itself against his shoulder and he smiled slightly. Joey looked absolutely beat, which wasn't much of a surprise. It was obvious Joey'd been through all sorts of hell that day. Even so, he was still as sexy as ever, and it was rather difficult for Duke to concentrate like that (which was quite understandable), so with another sigh he shrugged Joey off. This was hardly the time for daydreams.

            "Well, it's obvious you're going to need a place to stay," Duke stated after a long silence, wondering absently if Joey was asleep. It sure seemed like it. The boy hadn't opened his eyes in a while, and his head was tilted back against the couch. Duke couldn't remember seeing him move in a quite a while now.

            "Yeah, guess so," Joey agreed emotionlessly, feeling very tired. Not so much physically as emotionally. He couldn't take all this stress, it was making his head feel heavy and thinking was starting to become a near impossible task. Too many emotions were running through his head at once. It was frustrating, which only added to his confusion. He wasn't going to be much help like this, he was sure.

            "Well…do you have someplace to stay?" Duke asked after a while, growing slightly hopeful again. The sun was starting to set, which meant Joey was going to have to get going soon if he wanted to make it to his friend's before it got too dark.

            "I could stay with Tristan, but he'd be so pissed off at Kaiba AND me that I'm sure I'd never hear the end of it," Joey explained in that same tired voice of his, and Duke nodded slowly, confused. Having Joey stay here with him would be like a dream come true, but on the other hand it would be a living nightmare. He couldn't be sure which.

            "Well, if you want you could stay here…until you work things out with Kaiba, at least." There, he'd made the offer. Now all he had to do was see if Joey took him up on it or declined. He wouldn't be surprised either way. It didn't look like Joey had the energy to walk over to Tristan's house, but at the same time he was fairly sure Joey wouldn't want to stay at his house while figuring things out concerning Seto. It was all up to Joey now, and Duke was going crazy not knowing what was going to happen. He hated not knowing how things were going to turn out.

            "Thanks," Joey muttered, sounding like he was already starting to fall asleep. He looked relieved all of a sudden; worry starting to fade from where it had once been so clearly written in his expression. Duke nodded firmly to himself once and stood up, deciding he'd grab a few blankets and let Joey sleep on the couch. That was the best way to go about things. He already seemed comfortable enough where he was. However, he stopped as he noticed a single eye watching him from beneath a half closed eyelid.

            "Hm? What is it?" Duke asked after a while of their pointless little staring contest, sitting back down. He was starting to get sick of standing there looking like an idiot. After a while it got sort of boring.

            It was a while before he got his answer. Joey just sat and stared at him for a while longer, before finally sighing and sitting back up. He wasn't sure exactly how he was going to go about this without sounding like a jerk, but he was sure he could manage somehow.

            "Um…I was…well, I was sort of wondering since…you're not such a bad guy, really…and the only reason I didn't want to go out with you before was Kaiba, so…I was wondering if you'd still consider going out…with me. Please don't think you're my fallback, please! I don't mean it like that, it's just…I wanted to go out with you anyway, so…" Duke blinked a few times as Joey rambled on and on, eventually taking the liberty to cover Joey's mouth with his fingers gently.

            "Don't give up so easily, it isn't like you. I'm sure things will work out, but you can't just give up until there's absolutely no hope left, all right? It isn't fair to any of us otherwise." Joey blinked as he watched Duke leave, utterly confused. Why was Duke turning him down? For some reason it hurt more than it should have, while at the same time making him feel so much more relieved. Without a sound Joey lay down on Duke's couch and felt like crying. As exhausted as he was he fought to keep himself from making a fool out of himself, tried to concentrate on falling asleep.

            Duke sighed as he walked down the hallways quietly, hating himself for making the choice he had. It had been the right choice, there was no doubt in his mind about that, but he was well aware that at that moment he'd given up the only chance he'd ever had with Joey…if you could even call it that.

            Meanwhile Seto stared at his ceiling blankly, trying to figure things out. He had no idea how he was going to do this. He certainly wasn't going to apologize to him, there was no need. True, he may have overreacted, but Joey had been the one who'd started this whole mess. Seto couldn't have overreacted if Joey hadn't done something wrong in the first place. Joey should damn well be the one to apologize.

            Unconsciously Seto reached fingers up to touch his lips gently, his face showing clearly the aggravation he was feeling, allowing himself the tiny thought that maybe he'd enjoyed Joey's kiss a little too much. It was a tiny thought, but it lingered in the back of Seto's mind relentlessly. He tried to dismiss it as his imagination, something his brain was conjuring up because he was unbelievably tired, but he couldn't seem to forget the idea. Damn that Joey for messing him up like this!

            Sitting up, Seto stared at the pile of work he still had to finish. He'd actually been fairly close to catching it all up when Joey had come along, and now he was farther behind than ever. All Joey's fault, of course. However, he was quite aware that it was partially his fault as well, for letting Joey distract him so...although he would never admit that to anyone. He would never admit that he often let his mind wander to blonde hair and brown eyes, topped with a wide grin and cheerful personality.

            How could this have happened to him, anyway? Just a few days ago he and Joey had been bitter enemies, and would rather have swam with sharks than been in the same room with one another. Now Joey had just tried to kiss him, and he was considering that maybe the feelings behind it were returned…what the hell was going on here? Why weren't things making sense anymore?

            Standing up slowly he walked over to his desk. It was quite apparent he wasn't going to be getting to sleep any time soon, so he might as well put this time to good use…right? It wasn't so much that he worked himself too hard, as that he had trouble sleeping. That was what was actually what was starting to wear on him. After so many sleepless nights your body starts to get tired, and even then Seto hadn't been able to sleep well. There was always something else on his mind. It was always either work or school or Joey…the last one especially, as of late. Even today Joey was keeping him from sleeping properly, and he wasn't even there.

            Mokuba pushed opened the door to his brother's room slowly, trying not to make any sort of noise. It wasn't affective, however, as people are always the loudest when trying to be quiet. Seto's eyes focused on him the second the door was open, both of them looking rather like a deer in headlights. Seto was aware that he'd promised Mokuba he wouldn't work late anymore, but there really wasn't anything else for him to do other than lay in bed and stare at the ceiling.

            "I couldn't sleep," Seto explained after a while of their silent stares, and Mokuba nodded, closing the door behind him and walking over to where Seto was working.

            "Me either," he agreed, crossing his arms over Seto's desk and watching him work silently. He wasn't sure why, but he couldn't get to sleep tonight, and that thought was bugging him. He'd had a feeling Seto would still be up, and had gone up to see if he was right.

            He had been afraid of waking Seto at first, but he should have known better. Seto hardly ever slept, Mokuba was well aware that Seto wasn't keeping his promise very well. As much as he wanted to stay awake and keep his brother company, it wasn't long before Mokuba fell asleep to the steady click of Seto's fingers on dark laptop keys, and Seto picked him up carefully, marching him over to the large bed Seto was supposed to be occupying.

            He wasn't going to get to sleep that night.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Sorry it's so much worse than the other chapters, but I started running out of ideas at about the time Joey went to bed. I just threw this last page or so in there so I could give a better view of how it's affecting everyone, not just Joey and Seto. This hurts Duke and Mokuba, too.

Now, it's time for

MANDATORY MOKUBA KIDNAPPING PART 7:

(Recap of last time: Mokuba got kidnapped by psycho fan(s) *what a surprise*)

Seto: . I'll get you back for this

Psycho gurl: *braiding Mokuba's hair*  -_- all the more reason for us to give him back

Yugi: Since when have you been involved?

Psycho gurl: ^_^

Joey: I'm game if you're game.

Seto: . Shut up, stop smiling, and close your eyes.

Joey: ^_^

Joey and Seto: *kiss*

Seto: *blushes* . Now give me back my brother

Psycho gurl: What, no tongue?

Seto: . I hate you both.

            Okay, there we go. Another chapter of Beauty and the Beast finished. Please be nice if/when you review.

            Since people have been asking/wondering/bringing it up: The reason behind Mandatory Mokuba kidnapping:

            When I first started watching Yu-Gi-Oh, I started to notice a rather odd pattern: almost everyone kidnapped Mokuba at one point or another. However, seeing as my fic is a romance fic, with no action and no bad guy, I have no one to kidnap Mokuba. This is a tragedy, as it was already proven by the bad guys in Yu-Gi-Oh that you MUST kidnap Mokuba in order for the story/plot-line to be complete

            Therefore, I added 'Mandatory Mokuba kidnapping' to the end of my fic, so that I could fulfill all the requirements of writing something Yu-Gi-Oh.

            AKA—I thought it would be amusing to poke fun at the fact that almost everyone kidnaps Mokuba at one point or another (as he himself notices in my section).


	8. These things we don't understand

Disclaimers: Nope, still not mine. Don't you all wish it was??? *Acts innocent*

Notes: Yep, still working with the same problem, same characters, blah-di-blah-di-blah. Things are starting to get moving. Think we might actually get somewhere with the plot in this chapter

~*Beauty and the Beast*~

            Bright violet eyes opened slowly to the shrill sound of an alarm that was blatantly not his own. For a second he wondered where he was, until the softly muttered curses from across the room reminded him of his location, and he sat up slowly, turning off his brother's alarm. Wiping his eyes slowly he checked the time, not at all surprised at the digits that blinked back at him. Five am…as if two hours wasn't enough time to be ready for school.

            "You didn't go to sleep at all last night, did you?" Mokuba asked as he crossed the room, yawning and trying his hardest to keep his balance. He normally didn't wake up until another hour from now, but now that he was awake he didn't see the point in going back to sleep. He would just have to wake up again and repeat this process all over.

            "Would it help to say that I tried?" Seto tried without looking up from what he was doing, reading through the document he was printing out slowly, squinting to read what was written there. "Stop looking at me like that," he ordered, glancing over at his brother quickly between paragraphs. He was glaring at him again, like he always did when he was disappointed with him. As if it wasn't bad enough that Seto was disappointed with himself.

            "But you didn't try!" Seto sighed and finished the sentence he'd been reading over, laying the paper back down in the tray amongst the others. "If you would have tried you'd still be in bed," he pointed out, brushing bangs back from his eyes as he yawned again. It was hard to be intimidating when one was half the size of the person they were trying to intimidate…and yawning more often than talking.

            "I went to bed a few times, but I couldn't fall asleep. I didn't see the point in just laying there." To Seto, this was a valid point, but it wasn't enough for the smaller Kaiba, who puffed his cheeks out angrily, fighting back another yawn.

            "If you would have stayed in bed you would have fallen asleep eventually!" Mokuba whined, and Seto was the one to yawn this time, standing up and resting a hand on his brother's head. "You're going to fall asleep in class and then that's going to come back on the company, you know. For being so work-focused you don't seem to think that far ahead," Mokuba whined, staring up at his brother from under his hand.

            "I won't fall asleep at school, that's what coffee's for. Besides, if I start feeling tired I can just tell them I have something to take care of and leave. Problem solved, alright?" Mokuba didn't seem too pleased with that agreement, but he decided not to argue any farther. It wouldn't be a good idea to upset Seto this early in the morning, especially since he wanted something from him today.

            Most of the morning was carried on with general peace. Mokuba left Seto alone as he made his coffee, getting changed and reemerging from his room for breakfast at the same time that Seto left to get changed. Mokuba was starting to get this feeling that Seto was try to avoid him…or rather, trying to avoid what he knew was coming eventually. Seto wasn't going to be able to avoid him forever, though!

            It was close to seven when Seto finally left his room, stack of papers on hand. It had only been last night when he'd realized all the time he'd been wasting during school. Lunch was a perfect opportunity to get some work done, and he was determined to do just that. If Mokuba didn't want him staying up so late working any more than he'd just make up for the time he lost during lunch. It was a fair enough system, and it gave him something to do other than watch Joey make a fool out of himself…not to say that he wouldn't. Joey was so loud about everything he did that one really couldn't help but notice him…at least that's what Seto told himself

            "Seto! SetoSetoSetoSetoSeto!" Seto flinched as Mokuba latched onto his hand happily; almost making him lose his grip on the papers he had just finished printing. It would have been hell if those had gotten out of order. For a moment Seto wondered if he might be able to find a binder lying around the house that he could use to organize them, but then remembered the reason he'd almost dropped his papers in the first place.

            "What?" Seto asked as he removed his hand from Mokuba's grasp carefully, not wanting to hurt him. However, having his hand restricted could cause some problems, especially involving the stack of papers he was holding. Catching his papers before they could fall he reorganized them, waiting for Mokuba to speak his mind.

            "You remember what you promised, right? Right? You're going to apologize to Joey, aren't you?" Mokuba asked, eyes wide and hopeful. As was true with most young children, Mokuba was much more energetic after being awake for a while, having lost so much sleep the night before. It was weird, how children seemed more energetic when they slept less. Sickening, in a way.

            "I'm going to ask if he wants to come back, not apologize," Seto corrected blankly, continuing on his way before Mokuba could protest anymore. Both of them had been wrong, and Seto wasn't going to apologize unless Joey did…and even then there was only a slim chance. He just couldn't see himself apologizing for his actions…at the moment it had seemed the only logical choice in the matter.

            Mokuba didn't see much of his brother after that; he was too busy getting ready for school…the both of them were, actually. Seto, despite being up early enough to greet the sun, never actually started preparing for school until a good ten or twenty minutes beforehand. All the time prior to that was used for either work or waking up…it depended on how much sleep he had received the night before, if any.

            On his way to school Seto was vaguely aware of a sense of loneliness that had overcome him. He had gotten used to having Joey around, had grown used to his useless conversations and wasted energy. Now that it was gone he was stuck with the same boring old life he had had before…if you could even really call it that. School, work, sometimes sleep, and then back to start the routine all over again. It was an endless cycle of going through routine, a boring, stressful routine that Seto had come to hate over the short course of Joey's stay.

            The blonde was nowhere in sight as Seto pulled up to the school, and he got out of his car as if nothing had happened. As if there was nothing wrong and today was just another day…the same as yesterday. Only a few days ago this had been normal, today would have been nothing more than another boring and pointless day of school. But ever since running into Joey that cold night…

            Things just hadn't been the same.

            Seto was beginning to wonder if things would ever be the same. When the week was over and it was time for Joey to go home, could Seto let him go? Knowing what little he knew about Joey's family, he still knew enough to know that Joey didn't belong there. He couldn't do anything to stop it, though. He was helpless, when it came down to it. Just another person desperate for attention from the person they…liked, if he dare to admit that much.

            Seto was as antisocial as always that morning, and particularly careful when glancing over at Joey's friends. He was sure they didn't notice, and wouldn't even if he'd been obvious about it, but he didn't want to take that risk. Joey wasn't there, and deep down somewhere Seto was starting to worry. What if something really had happened to him? From the looks of things he hadn't gone over to Tristan's…seeing as one was there and the other…well, wasn't.

            A young girl with curly blonde hair had inched her way over to him, trying not to look too suspicious. Seto barely took notice of her, letting her be. Normally he would have screamed at anyone who dare invade his personal space as such, but he didn't want to cause a scene. Not today. Not when he was trying so hard not to be noticed.

            "Um…excuse me," she tried softly, a tiny blush marking her cheeks. Seto glanced down at her, facial expression not changing in the slightest.

            "What do you want?" he asked in that same expressionless monotone and the shy face was instantly replaced with an angry look. Brown eyes glared daggers at him from between blonde bands, and Seto was reminded slightly of the look he was so used to receiving from Joey.

            "You don't have to be so mean! Geeze, I thought you were new here, too. You looked lonely." Her face softened a little bit as she spoke; going from anger to what Seto could have sworn was pity. He hated that look, more than anything he hated that look. He didn't want to be pitied; he just wanted people to understand him. A bit of sympathy here and then was tolerable, but pity…he wasn't the type of boy to need someone else's pity.

            "I like being alone." Nothing more was said between them, and she left soon enough, looking confused. Not that Seto noticed, or cared for that matter. A familiar face had appeared in the crowd, running over to his friends and laughing nervously between deep breaths. Now that he had established the fact that Joey was indeed at school…and all right…now what was he going to do? He couldn't just pull him away from his friends; they'd know something was up. Unless he was cruel about it, of course…at which point he was sure Joey wouldn't come. He'd said enough last night.

            Joey had been surprised when Tristan hadn't been at the waiting spot. He was normally late, that was a given. He'd had to run to be sure to make it to school on time…and he still had a minute or two. It didn't even occur to him that that had been the reason Tristan had left, but he didn't really mind. He was too busy worrying about other things…like what class was going to be like with Seto. He'd almost been hoping Seto wouldn't show, but from the looks of things he was having no such luck.

            Slowly people began to wander inside and he dropped back a bit to talk with Tristan, chatting about things they normally would have talked about on the way to school. Joey didn't dare tell him that Seto had kicked him out the night before, and he was careful not to be obvious that he was trying to hide his fresh bruises from Tristan. He didn't want Tristan turning this into something bigger than it already was.

            He was surprised to find Seto waiting outside the classroom, staring out the window and seemingly not paying any attention to the people filing in past him. However, he did notice as blue eyes caught his, and he told Tristan that he had something to talk to Seto about in regards to his stay with a whisper, walking over to where Seto was standing.

            Neither boy talked until the halls were almost empty, and Joey wondered if they were going to be on time to class. Probably not if this kept up. It would be rather pathetic of them to be late to class when they were standing right outside the door, now wouldn't it? It was Joey who broke the silence first, turning away so Seto couldn't see how absolutely guilty he looked.

            "I'm sorry." Seto didn't say anything in regards to that, but Joey could hear him moving, pushing himself away from the wall and turning to actually face him.

            "If you want to come back, meet me where we normally meet. I'll wait…for a while. If you don't show, then I'll assume you don't want to come back and arrange for your friend to pick up your things." Straight to the point, and Seto was turning to walk into the classroom. Joey smiled to himself slightly and followed him inside, collapsing into his seat as the bell rang. Maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all. Seto obviously didn't hate him…or at least, it didn't seem like it. He hadn't sound angry. If anything he had actually sounded…sorry. Upset. Like he actually wanted Joey to come back.

            That thought was enough to make Joey's whole day seem a little bit brighter.

            It was raining during lunch, so Joey stayed in the classroom with his friends, watching the rain fall, sliding down the window in tiny streams. It was beautiful, in a weird sort of way. It was something he didn't mind watching as he talked with his friends. Seto was also stuck in the classroom, but he didn't so much as even acknowledge Joey's presence. It was only normal for the two of them to act like they hated one another, if he let that slip…he didn't know what he'd do. People would know something was up, they'd talk about him…there would be rumors, and in the long run someone was bound to get hurt. Chances were it would be Seto himself, with his recent string of luck.

            Lunch went by quickly, but it was the only part of the day that did. All through class Joey caught himself glancing over at Seto, and class seemed to drone on forever. He couldn't wait for class to end and go back with Seto…find out why he was doing this for him. Find out how he really felt about him…if he was just keeping a promise or if he really didn't mind Joey's company.

            Finally, after what seemed like forever, the final bell rang. However, even though Joey wanted to sprint out the door after Seto, he took his time getting ready to leave. No need to drop the act everyone had grown so used to. Joey couldn't stand Seto, and Seto couldn't stand Joey…that was the way everyone was used to it being. Seto would surely be mad at him if he didn't keep up his pretense. These thoughts in mind a gentle tap on his shoulder made him jump, and he turned around quickly to face his teacher.

            "If you don't mind, I'd like to have a word with you," she offered with a friendly smile, eyes locked with Joey's. Joey nodded slowly, a little bit frightened. What in the world had he done this time? Hell, he and Seto hadn't even fought in school for a while…for obvious reasons. What could it be?

            "Well, I'll get going then. Talk to you later, Joey," Yugi offered as he walked over to the door, waving to his friend and following the crowd down the hallways. He normally would have waited for him, but he had things he had to do today. He didn't mind waiting a minute or two, but no one knew how long Joey would be in there.

            "So…what did you want to talk to me about?" Joey asked as the silence started to get on his nerves, not liking it in the slightest. It was one of those uncomfortable silences that makes your head spin with all sorts of bad possibilities. Being in trouble as often as he was, Joey could think of quite a few bad reasons a teacher might want to talk to him.

            "It's nothing bad, don't worry," she reassured him, sitting down at her desk, and setting her lesson plans down carefully. "I'm just a little worried, that's all." Joey blinked a few times, confused. Why would she be worried? He hadn't fought with anyone in a while, wasn't that a good thing? She obviously understood that Joey was confused and flipped through a small folder, taking out a stack of papers paper clipped together neatly.

            "What's that?" Joey asked, leaning forward a bit to see what it was she was currently leafing through, setting aside a few papers now and then.

            "They're your homework papers and tests. Joey, recently your grades have been slipping. Normally I wouldn't call someone out for this, but…where you stand I think this may pose a problem." Oh…well, Joey could see where that could be a problem, but…why did she have to tell him this today? He hadn't been doing well for a while.

            "Oh. Well, I'm sorry. I'll try to do better, promise," he tried, starting to get a little nervous. He wasn't sure how long Seto would wait for him, and he didn't want to take his chances and drag this meeting on any longer than it had to go.

            "Well, I hope so…for your sake. Either way, I noticed you looked rather preoccupied today during class. I've talked to your other teachers and they noticed the same. Is there any particular reason? Something on your mind you want to talk about?" Joey liked his teacher; he really did, but…geeze! Why did everyone have to worry about him so much? He was fine…well, for the most part anyway. He wouldn't be fine if he missed his ride. "Are you alright?" she asked again as Joey shifted nervously, trying to think of how to get out of there.

            "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just…in a bit of a rush," he tried, hoping she'd understand. Maybe they could talk again tomorrow after school, or tomorrow morning. Whenever, he didn't care. Just so long as it wasn't NOW.

            "I understand, but this is important. Your fellow teachers and I are worried about you." Damn. She wasn't going to give up until he told her what was on his mind, would she? He couldn't very well tell her what was going on, but he couldn't lie to his teacher, either. It was a lose/lose situation here. "Please stop fidgeting like that and look at me, Joey. Is there anything wrong? This could turn into a very serious problem."

            "There's nothing wrong, I'm fine."

            "Zoning out during class?" she tried again, placing the paperclip back on her stack of papers and waiting for an answer. She had heard some kids whispering rumors here and there about Joey, but she wasn't going to press them. Silly children spreading rumors, nothing more. Some kids said he had run away from home, others said he was in prostitution now, even others said he was a drug dealer, on and on. The rumors never seemed to stop. Normally such things would have her worried, but most of them were ridiculous rumors anyway. Besides, she trusted in Joey's good judgment. True enough he was in enough fights to make your head spin, but he was a good kid overall.

            "Just…a little crush is all." There, hopefully that was enough for her. He really didn't want to go into details, nor think of another vague excuse.

            A slender eyebrow rose at that, eying Joey suspiciously. "Really now. I would have figured you had a girlfriend. Not that I'm saying anything," she offered calmly, crossing her arms over her desk. If only she knew Joey wasn't talking about a girl at all. Wouldn't that have been a shock? He almost wished he could tell her, just to see her reaction. "Well, seeing as you said you're in a rush, I'll let you go. Please do work on bringing your grades back up…and try to pay more attention in class," she finished, sitting back in her seat. Joey nodded once, smiling brilliantly. Finally, he could leave.

            "Thanks, I will. See you tomorrow." And he was gone, out the door and running down the hallways as quickly as he could manage. Most everyone had cleared the halls by now, only a few kids wandering here and there for club business and whatnot.

            It was still raining outside, harder by now, and he kept his bag above his head as a sort of makeshift umbrella. He hadn't been able to grab his from home, and while he'd been out with Seto it hadn't occurred to him to buy one. Not that it would do him much good anyway, he hadn't had time to grab anything from Seto's when he'd left anyway.

            "Seto better be there," Joey bitched aloud as he ran, knowing it would be one hell of a walk back to Seto's in this rain. He really didn't want to think about that…he was sure Seto would wait for him. He wasn't that late. At least, he didn't think he was.

            However, as luck would have it, Seto was gone, and Joey was not a very happy little boy. He was soaked, and absolutely freezing. He was going to get sick if he stayed out in this much longer, but there was no way he was going anywhere other than Seto's tonight. He wasn't going to miss out on the one chance Seto had given him.

            The house was abnormally quiet as Seto closed the door behind him, and for a split second he worried if Mokuba was all right. Normally he was watching TV or something, but there was no sound coming from the living room, and the silence that hung over the hallway was rather unsettling. However, his worries were all for naught as Mokuba peered his head around the living room doorway.

            "Joey come back?" he asked hopefully, eyes hopeful. As much as he loved his brother and enjoyed his company, he also loved spending time with Joey. Not to say that he loved Joey any more than he did his brother, but it was rather obvious that his brother was home. This was not the case with Joey, however.

            "No. He didn't want to, obviously," Seto answered monotonously, running fingers through his hair, damp and cold with the raindrops that had found their way there. Mokuba didn't look too happy with that answer, but didn't press the issue. Good, Seto didn't really want to talk about it. As much as he hated to admit it, he had been a little bit disappointed himself when Joey hadn't shown up. As much as Joey confused him, deep down he knew what he wanted.

            It was this knowledge that confused him. He had liked it when Joey kissed him, he wanted Joey to stay with him, and he missed spending time with him. Deep down somewhere he understood that he had fallen for Joey, but his mind refused to acknowledge it. Kept on wondering how such a ridiculous idea even came to be.

            "Well…I guess that's his choice," Mokuba muttered to himself, walking back to the couch and sitting down, turning the television back on. There was nothing really interesting on, but it was better than doing nothing.

            "Don't you have homework?" Seto asked, sitting down next to his little brother and taking the remote. He hadn't seen Mokuba work on his homework in a while, and he was sure the boy wasn't getting off easy in class every day. Even Seto found time to do his homework around work, there was no reason Mokuba couldn't do his.

            "Already done," Mokuba chirped happily, glad Seto was staying with him. He had been planning on spending the afternoon alone, now that Joey wasn't here, but Seto had really changed in the last couple days. Now he was starting to act more like the big brother Mokuba remembered…before they were anybodies. Back when Seto was just Seto, not some work-driven company boss.

            It was quite a while later when Seto finally got up to leave, and Mokuba was a little bit upset, but understood. Seto had spent a while with him, more time than he normally would have, and that was enough. He couldn't be selfish, after all. Seto hadn't been planning on leaving so early, but someone was at the door and while he was standing up he might as well just go back to his room, right? No point in sitting back down only to get back up again and head to work.

            As his fingers closed around the door handle he allowed himself a little bit of hope that maybe Joey had stopped by…if not even just for his stuff. He wanted to see him again, even though it had only been an hour or two since they'd last seen one another.

            The sight that met him on the other side of the door wasn't at all what he was expecting. It was Joey after all, out of breath and drenched. Blonde hair stuck to his face stubbornly as he leaned against the doorframe for support. Seto simply stood there and stared for a while, a little confused.

            "You…left me…you…jerk," Joey managed between deep breaths, glaring at Seto from between his bangs. They were uncomfortable in his eyes, but he didn't have the energy to brush them aside right now. He'd run for the house when the sun had started to set, really not wanting to be out in the night cold and rain. It was still coming down rather hard, and Joey was desperately trying to stay under the tiny ledge of Seto's doorway.

            "You were late," Seto offered coldly, stepping outside and closing the door behind him. Joey didn't bother to follow that up with a comment, just let it slide. True, he had been late, but it wasn't his fault. Fault didn't matter, though. All that mattered right now was figuring this whole mess out. "So…do you want to come back, or…"

            "Of course I want to come back. I wouldn't have run all this way in the rain if I didn't want to come back!" Joey snapped, a little bit angry that Seto would think that he had gone through all that for nothing. Why couldn't Seto just accept that fact that someone wanted to be with him…near him?

            "Why?" Seto asked, walking over to the ledge and holding a hand out to catch the falling raindrops. He looked like a little child like that, and Joey would have smiled if Seto hadn't been starting in with the whole self-doubt thing again. It was enough to make his anger fade a little, however.

            "I thought I made it pretty clear yesterday," he offered with a small smile, walking around so that he was standing in front of Seto…in the rain again. A hand reached up to brush bangs out of his eyes, staring evenly at Seto and waiting for a response. A tiny blush covered Seto's cheeks instead of any sort of vocal response and he turned away, angry with himself again. "Come on, if you're going to talk to me face me," Joey practically demanded, reaching a hand to Seto's shoulder to turn him back.

            "Don't touch me, you're all wet," Seto snapped, smacking his hand away. Joey smiled evilly at that, grabbing Seto's wrist and pulling him out into the rain with him.

            "Now so are you." Seto glared at him for all he was worth, but it was rather hard to be intimidating when you yourself are feeling rather like a drowned rat. "Now, if you're done with your questions, I have one: Why do you want me back?" Joey asked calmly, moving to sit on the steps, glancing back over his shoulder at where Seto was standing, still pouting about getting wet.

            "I don't know," Seto finally answered after a long silence, sitting down next to Joey. He looked…vulnerable. Human, even, blue eyes no longer cold and emotionless but soft and confused. He looked younger like that, and much more attractive. True, Seto's aloof nature gave him a sort of unattainable charm, but this side of him was just beautiful. Joey wondered if this was what Seto would have grown up to look like if his parents were around…if he didn't have to work so hard and take care of Mokuba.

            "Do you want me back? Or is this just about your promise?" Joey asked softly, not taking his eyes off Seto's face. He didn't want to lose a single second of what he was seeing now, wanted to imprint a picture forever in his mind and never forget it. There was another long silence on Seto's end before he opened his mouth to speak, not finding the words for a few more seconds afterward.

            "I…I want you back. I don't know why, but I don't want you to leave." Seto no longer looked so vulnerable and young, but he also wasn't the same Seto everyone was used to seeing. The hate was gone from his eyes, although that was the only difference now. He had regained his sense of power and self-control, and Joey was sad the moment had left. "Why did you kiss me? It was a stupid thing to do."

            "I know it was stupid, but…I guess I was just kind of hoping." Seto sighed and crossed his arms over his legs, staring at the ground.

            "Hope…all it really does is let you down."

            "If you say so. I don't think it does." Seto shook his head and looked back up at Joey again.

            "I wish you wouldn't have kissed me, but wishing's just as good as hope, huh? Doesn't do anything for you…" Joey was a little hurt by that, but Seto didn't seem angry with him, just…he seemed regretful. There was a hint of regret in his voice that Joey just didn't understand.

            "I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you. Um…how about, I give you permission to kiss me. Any time you want. Deal?" Seto blinked a few times before turning to the ground again.

            "Why would I want to kiss you?" he asked sharply, clenching his hands around the fabric of his sleeves. This was confusing…too damn confusing. If only Joey hadn't kissed him, things would have been so much easier. He could have gone on ignorant of how Joey felt, and maybe then he wouldn't be feeling all these strange things himself.

            "I don't know. Hell, maybe you don't know why either," Joey tried to explain, instead finding that he made no sense…except to himself anyway. He knew what he was trying to say; he just didn't know how to say it.

            "I'm so tired of trying to figure this all out," Seto whined, more to himself than Joey, but Joey heard him anyway, leaning forward to see Seto's face again. "I know what I want, I just don't know why, and it's driving me crazy. But, at the same time…I'm getting so damn sick of trying to figure out why! I just…want to do what I want to do." Joey blinked and reached a hand out for Seto's cautiously, brushing the back of his fingers over Seto's gently.

            "Then do what you want to do. I do. I told you I didn't know why I did the things I did, either. You don't always have to understand everything." Seto had noticed Joey's touch but hadn't felt the need to acknowledge it any more than to look over at Joey. It wasn't hurting him, and he had too much on his mind to really care right now.

            "Maybe you don't, but I do," Seto tried to explain, but shortly afterwards realized he sounded rather ridiculous. Joey just smiled slightly, eyes moving away from Seto's to his hand.

            "I want to kiss you again. I don't know why, but I want to," Joey said softly, trying to prove a point. It didn't matter why you wanted something. Your body knew, obviously. Emotions just weren't made for people to understand them.

            Joey jumped as he felt lips press against his, meeting eyes with Seto again. He hadn't really been expecting for Seto to kiss him…ever. Especially not now…not after all the fighting and screaming that had occurred last time. It just didn't make sense…but Joey supposed it didn't have to.

            "I just wanted to," Seto snapped as he pulled away, answering before Joey could even ask. Joey smiled slightly, but before he could even protest that he wasn't going to say anything, Seto was kissing him again, hand letting go of his sleeve to hold onto Joey's instead. He was shaking a little bit, scared. He didn't like not understanding things…he didn't like being attached to anyone. However, he DID understand that he was lonely, and he DID understand that it was seclusion that made him such.

            "Does this mean you're willing to give me a chance?" Joey asked, smiling that same bright smile again. It was no longer that appreciative or melancholy smile that had graced his features earlier, but a truly happy one.

            "Just don't screw it up," Seto snapped harshly. He sounded angry, trying to cover up just how scared he really was. He was so afraid of being hurt it was ridiculous. But even so, his face didn't show it, and his voice didn't show it. Nothing in his face showed fear. Joey would have thought Seto was truly angry with him if it wasn't for the slim fingers griping his hand desperately and shaking ever so slightly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Whee! Another chapter finished! I think this story may only make it to ten chapters, but who knows. It might last longer than that. Depends on how I want to distribute the events of the story.

Sorry it's been so long since last I updated, but I finally finished Bible of Kumagoro and then I fell into a writing slump right afterwards. That would explain why this chapter isn't all that great. And yes, I have gotten the teacher lectures like Joey's before…lots of them…from the head district principal lady (I dunno what they're called).

(P.S.—if you want a good Chapter 8 song, I was listening to Gackt's 'Rain' while I wrote it)

And now it's time for the seriously messed up story within the story:

MANDATORY MOKUBA KIDNAPPING PART 8:

Seto: I'm all wet, thanks to the puppy…

PG: *has already been gagged to keep from making perverted jokes* (about Seto being wet, hahaha :D)

Mokuba: *starts singing 'Singing in the Rain'*

Joey: -_- stop calling me puppy *growls*

Seto: That's not helping any.

Joey: .

Mokuba: *snatched by random person*

Joey: I'm not a dog!

Seto: …

Tea: Joey, I have some candy if you want it.

Joey: O.O Ooooh…sugar.

Tea: Beg.

Joey: . Die Bag, die.

Tea: ^_^ That's payback for calling me Bag.

Joey: *Blink* Hey…whatever happened to the annoying singing?

Seto: -_- *twitch*

Mokuba: *somewhere far far away* T_T I hate my life

*Glomps all you wonderful people out there* you love me, right??? You know how you show you love me?

By reviewing.

……………I'm innocent, I swear…


	9. Can you keep a secret?

Disclaimers: I'm still rights-less, although I'm also research paper-less so I have time to write again.

Notes: They're together finally, so…now what? I'm thinking about making this JoeyxSeto, but I have to see how things turn out. Chances are it will be 50/50 share on both sides

~*Beauty and the Beast*~

            Of course, there were rules to Seto and Joey's relationship, if it was going to last more than ten seconds. First and foremost of these rules was that no one was to know…excluding family. Family meaning siblings, in this situation. However, Joey was only allowed to tell his sister if she was the one to bring it up. Mokuba had to know, seeing as they were all staying together, and based on the fact that neither boy could lie to their siblings, this rule had been made. No one else was to know, which didn't bother Joey too much. Sure, he would have liked his friends to know, but he didn't want to bother with anyone else knowing.

            Actually, he was even having doubts whether or not he wanted his friends to know. It was a pretty weird situation for a boy to be in love with another boy, wasn't it? Well, perhaps he shouldn't be thinking of love just yet. For a boy to like another boy was more like it. It was just off with the whole cycle of life in most peoples' opinion, but Joey didn't really care. He didn't really think it should matter if the person you liked was a boy or a girl, they're the same person in the end.

            Things didn't really change much. Seto rarely showed affection, and when he did it wasn't much. Joey would spend his days lounging around in Seto's room, being quiet and trying his hardest not to be disruptive (a rule if he were to stay in Seto's room). Most times he just sprawled out on Seto's bed and slept, content just to know Seto was nearby. It wasn't like Seto was really going to pay much attention to him whether he was awake or asleep, so he didn't see any reason in being awake when he was tired.

            It was two days later when they appeared in school again, and Joey wasn't sure how he was going to do this. He didn't want to go, wanted to stay 'home' and spend what little time he had left with Seto having fun. Not going to school and having to pretend to hate Seto all over again. He wished people weren't so close-minded, so he didn't have to pretend.

            It was obvious Seto wasn't too comfortable with the idea of going to school, either.

            "Kaiba…" Seto blinked to look over at Joey, who was sitting rather close to him on the ride to school, despite protests. "I'm sorry." Joey continued, leaning a little closer to the other boy. "I made everything so weird…" Joey tried to explain, lips brushing against Seto's slightly. Seto blushed and pushed him away, turning to look out the window and moving scenery. "Your windows are tinted, weirdo," Joey commented, no longer the innocent, regretful boy he'd been earlier. He was back to himself, having given up on trying to guilt Seto.

            "We're almost at the school," Seto commented in return, and Joey clenched his fists tightly, trying to resist the urge to yell at him. As much as he cared about Seto, he could be a real selfish prick sometimes. "I told you, nothing's changed between us while we're at school." Joey scooted away from Seto to the other window, trying to keep himself under control. Part of him wanted to scream at Seto, and the other part wanted to kiss him…reassure himself that there was still something there to hide. Either way, he was pissed off. He didn't like the way things were looking already.

            "Don't worry, I won't have any problems screaming at you," Joey muttered under his breath, glancing over at Seto quickly…who probably hadn't even noticed Joey had moved. Why did Seto care if anyone knew anyway? As far as Seto knew everyone in the school thought he was a spoiled brat that didn't care what people thought of him. Why would he care now?

            However, Seto was well aware that Joey had moved back to his side of the car, and couldn't help but feel a little uncertain. He wanted this to work, he really did, but he didn't know how. He'd lived his entire life not showing emotion to anyone but his brother, he didn't know how to convince Joey that he really wanted him around without scaring him away. If Joey hated him—the real him, behind the cold exterior—Seto didn't know what he'd do.

            Joey got out early, as was usual, forcing himself to smile and wave as Seto drove off. He was still upset, but he could pretend…or he could try to anyway. He was well aware he wasn't very good at pretending. If he was angry, he was angry, there was no stopping it. And whether Seto wanted to believe it or not, he was angry.

            "Maybe you should move in with Kaiba forever, you're actually starting to get here on time," Tristan commented as Joey waved Seto off, catching his attention. He had only just arrived there in time to see Joey get dropped off, which meant that either he was late or Joey was on time…both were surprising.

            "Maybe, but I think one of us would die within the year. Me of boredom and Kaiba would just shoot himself. Bang! 'No more Joey to deal with, I'm free!'" He mocked, laughing even though it was probably true. He was sure he drove Seto as insane as Seto managed to do to him sometimes. In fact, he would have been willing to bet money on it.

            "Yeah, I'm sure we've all thought about that before," Tristan joked, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I know I have. Then I remember that I annoy you by staying here, so I can't do it." Joey glared at him, even though he knew he was teasing. "Seriously, though, I think this arrangement might have been good for you. You and Kaiba have at least learned how to deal with one another somewhat, right?" Joey smiled slightly, nodding. He wasn't about to tell Tristan that he'd fallen for Seto. Even though Seto hadn't said that he couldn't tell his friends that he liked him, he had figured that probably wouldn't have been the greatest of ideas. Eventually that would lead to them figuring out that they were 'seeing one another,' and that was bad.

            Besides, Seto had said that while they were at school nothing had changed between them, meaning that he couldn't even let people know that he and Seto got along any better than they used to. He was mad at Seto anyway, so it didn't matter.

            Why was it that he had to keep reminding himself that he was upset? Once people got upset they stayed upset, didn't they? Maybe he was just getting sick of being angry with Seto, although he doubted that was possible. It was more that…he didn't want to be mad at him.

            The conversation before school had been entertaining enough, and Joey was glad it strayed away from his own life…or really anything he had to participate in. He kept on looking for Seto, wondering where he had run off. He couldn't exactly go looking for him…or even go over to talk to him, but it would have been a comforting thought to know where he was. At least, Joey would have felt a lot better that way. He couldn't explain why.

            However, as well as the morning had been the school day was a slow and unusual sort of hell. Joey and Seto hadn't managed to get into any sorts of fights, but they certainly weren't getting along either. Even Seto started to get the hint that Joey was a little bit angry with him. He couldn't quite understand why, however, and that thought kept him distracted through all their classes.

            Lunch was the hour that would prove to be the worst, however.

            Most people had planned on eating lunch outside that day, as it was a beautiful day and they were trapped in the school building all other hours of the day. It only made sense to leave when one had the chance. Seto, however, normally wasn't one to go outside and eat, preferring the solitude inside. Joey would have liked to stay there as well, but seeing as Tea was insistent on eating outside they all followed.

            Joey hadn't been expecting Seto to follow them outside as well…and in truth Seto wasn't really looking forward to it, either.

            "Joey, why do you look so sad today?" Tea asked as she sat down under a tree she'd carefully picked out, being careful to keep her skirt at a respectable length. She may have worn her skirts short, as was the fashion, but she was no slut. "It isn't really like you. You normally look happy or angry, not sad," she added. True, she was a little bit annoyed by Joey's attitude but she still cared about him…at least somewhat.

            "I'm not sad, I'm tired," he answered as he sat down as well. He wasn't really sad, actually. He was just a little preoccupied with sort of depressing thoughts…but they were making him angry…not sad.

            "She's right, though. You do look a little depressed," Yugi added, still standing. He didn't really feel like sitting right now. He'd done it all class; he didn't see the need to do it during lunch as well…at least not for the whole hour anyway. Joey glared up at him.

            "I'm not depressed, I've just been thinking is all!" Everyone laughed at him for that, and Joey lay down in a huff, crossing arms over his chest. He didn't have anything to eat but that was okay, he wasn't really hungry anyway. If he was, he could always ask Seto to take him somewhere fast before they went back to his place. It wasn't like before, when he had to walk. Seto had a car and could go anywhere he wanted on his way home.

            Seto watched them with the slightest twinge of jealousy, which only made him more upset. He wasn't supposed to feel jealous of them. He was supposed to hate them. Things just kept on getting weirder and weirder since Joey had moved in with him. How many days ago had that been again? Seto hadn't been keeping track. It seemed like forever and not long at all, what with all the things they went through.

            It was when the bell rang that Seto made his presence known, grabbing a hold of Joey's elbow gently as he walked by. He really didn't want to make a scene with Joey's friends, but he needed to talk to Joey. "Stay here," he demanded before letting go of his arm, a little surprised at the confused and slightly annoyed look he received in return. Without a word Joey turned and ran to catch up with his friends, leaving Seto alone. Seto was about to scream after him when he nodded once again to his friends and turning around, walking back to where Seto was standing, hands in his pockets and eyes on the ground.

            "You look like a puppy about to get scolded," Seto remarked coldly and Joey glared up at him a minute before looking back at the ground. "What? Why are you so mad at me?" He crossed arms over his chest and moved a little as Joey walked past him to lean against the tree Seto had been standing under.

            "A comment like that and you wonder?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Seto honestly didn't have the slightest clue how to treat anybody, did he? It was kind of amusing, that Joey would fall for someone like that. Most people wouldn't think it was possible. Not only because they didn't like someone, but also because it was fairly obvious already that Seto wasn't the type of boy anyone would fall for.

            "Look…I'm not trying to be mean. Stop looking at me like that," Seto demanded harshly, but Joey didn't stop glaring at him. "Please stop that," Seto tried again, staring down at the ground. He didn't like that look. It reminded him that he'd screwed something up again. He didn't like that feeling. The feeling that came with that look was almost unbearable. Joey felt a little guilty and dropped the look, but he was no less upset.

            "All right then, fine. What do you want?" Joey asked harshly, looking off towards the school as the bell to resume classes rang, knowing that they could probably be seen from the window if anyone bothered to look.

            "What's your problem?" Seto snapped, glaring up at him. "You're the one that wanted to go out with me, you made the first move! You know I don't know what I'm doing!" Joey blinked a few times at that before narrowing his eyes again. He hadn't been expecting a reaction like that.

            "Well maybe that's the problem! You act like you don't care what people think of you but that's all you care about!" Seto didn't seem phased at all, besides seeming a little angrier.

            "I don't care what they think! And…I care about you," he added softly, blushing a little and looking away. Joey didn't say anything and Seto grew angry again, uncomfortable in the silence. "And how about you? You're no better than I am!" he screamed back. "You complain that I never do this and that but you never ask me to! Ever think I might do something if you asked rather than just hung around and hoped! You love to make me feel bad!"

            "I'm not the one that's embarrassed to be seen with me!" Seto jumped back a little, eyes widening. "All you care about is your reputation, when have you cared about me?" Joey continued, aware he was finally starting to win the fight and feeling only slightly guilty. "I can't stand you but I like you and it makes me so damn confused," Joey admitted, lowering his voice. Now that he'd gotten his problem out and heard he really didn't feel the need to scream. "I know it's probably the same for you, right?" he finished quietly, suddenly feeling horrible about the things he'd said.

            "It's hard." Seto spoke slowly and quietly, taking a few steps towards Joey until they were almost touching. "They won't understand us. They'll hate us both, and then maybe you'll realize it's best not to have me around. I don't care if they hate me…but I don't want you to hate me." Joey blinked a few times, moving a hand to rest with curled fingers near Seto's pretty blue eyes. He hadn't even thought of that.

            "I was full ready to have you hate me for the rest of my life over just that one kiss." Joey tried to comfort him with a tiny smile, blushing a little. He was a little bit embarrassed to have to comfort the high-and-mighty Seto Kaiba, but he supposed things changed sometimes. Today had been a rather backward day, actually. "Why would what a bunch of strangers think of me change the fact that I like you? I mean…they don't really like either of us anyway. I'm annoying and you're cold so insults and hate are nothing different."

            "But this is different. This is an irrational kind of hate. Why would you go through that for me?" Joey took his hand away from Seto's face, landing a sharp smack on his cheek.

            "Don't you dare! Do you have any idea how much shit I've gone through already? I risked a lot just to be near you." Seto didn't even move, just stared back at him blankly. Joey sighed at the look, moving a hand to touch his cheek gently again. "You're worth whatever the world decides it wants to throw at me. Trust me, I've seen my fair share of hell, too," Joey added as a dash of comfort before removing his hand. "Now…can we get to class?" he asked with a cheerful smile, burying his hands back in his pockets and heading for the school building. He knew there would be hell to pay for being as late as he was, but he didn't care. He was used to it, and he'd gotten something good out of it.

            Seto didn't show up for a while after Joey did…actually not until the bell had rang for class to be let out again. He made his appearance as students talked and waited for their teacher to come in, well aware that most of their conversations were centered on the fact that he had, indeed, skipped a class. He almost wished they would leave him alone…not that it bothered him that they talked about him. He just…didn't like that they had to make a scene out of everything he did wrong.

            Okay…so it really did bother him. In fact, it kind of pissed him off.

            As far as Joey was concerned the rest of the school day passed by faster than the first half had, partially because Joey was no longer trying to stay mad at Seto. The other parts had to do with the part that it was no longer such a great day outside and classes were easier after lunch. This, of course, being because Joey slept through most of them.

            For Seto, however, every class took forever. This being, of course, because he wasn't sleeping and he was more confused than ever. He wasn't sure if Joey meant what he'd said…or if he had just been saying it because Joey wasn't sure exactly what he was saying. He wasn't about to ask, however. Surprisingly, Joey's slap had hurt. Seto 'hmph'ed at the very thought. Boys weren't supposed to slap one another.

            Joey didn't even think of going over to see Seto after the final bell rang, remaining in his seat and talking to his friends. He could live with this, so long as he didn't have to pretend to hate Seto he was good. He could ignore him just well enough on his own. He was a little surprised when his friends stopped talking rather suddenly, looking over at the hand near his face, blinking.

            "Are you coming or not?" Seto asked harshly, but he didn't dare look anywhere but a spot right below Joey's eyes. He couldn't stand to look at anyone at the moment, but wanted to make an effort, however. Joey smiled, standing up without taking the hand offered.

            "Well, yeah, of course. What did you thi--" Joey was cut short by the school speakers, blinking a few times. School was over, why would they be making any announcements now?

            "Hi everyone!" Seto's eyes grew wider, recognizing the cheerful voice over the loudspeakers. Joey seemed to recognize it, too, tilting his head a little to the side.

            "Mokuba?" he asked quietly, waiting for him to continue. He didn't notice the odd looks his friends were giving him, or the whispering going on between Tristan and Tea. Both were rather fascinated by their newest 'discovery.' Seto was being nice to Joey…or at least somewhat nice. They were talking and not screaming at one another.

            "I just wanted to tell everyone that Seto's taken, so all you girls keep your hands off!" Mokuba cheered happily, raising a fist in the air in victory. "If you don't I'll beat you all up, hear? Seto won't tell anyone but I will!" he finished, sitting down from where he'd been standing on the principal's swirly-chair, spinning around a few times.

            Everyone's eyes flew to Seto. Half the class had been left standing and waiting for announcements, some of the girls going on and on about how cute Mokuba was as they waited for him to continue. Joey didn't dare move, wide-eyed in shock. Mokuba was SO going to get it when they got back. If not from Seto then from him. They'd both worked so hard to keep things 'normal' at school.

            "You'd better have meant what you said," Seto snapped, leaning forward to whisper it harshly into Joey's ear. Joey nodded slowly, jumping at the light kiss on his cheek. He turned to meet cruelly amused blue eyes and a twisted smile. "If we can't hide I might as well play with them a little," he reasoned and Joey couldn't help but laugh. Seto looked so adorable like that, for some reason or another. He moved Seto's arms to wrap around his waist, smiling just as cruelly before standing on his toes to whisper into Seto's ear.

            "I get to play too, right?" He lowered himself to press a soft kiss to Seto's lips, glancing over Seto's shoulder at the shocked girls behind them. He smiled at them cruelly before removing himself from Seto's arms. "All right then, let's go home. I'm hungry," he whined, turning to his friends and smiling apologetically. "I gotta run, but I'll see you all later, okay?" he asked cheerfully. Yugi nodded, all smiles and cheer. Tea just seemed confused, but nodded slowly as well, and Tristan smiled a little reluctantly with a short 'okay.'

            "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Joey asked as he followed Seto out of class. Mokuba met them in the hallways, latching on to Seto's hand and smiling up at him innocently.

            "We had a half day of school today so I came here to get you!" Seto smiled slightly down at him, although he was still rather embarrassed over Mokuba's announcement. "Hey! At least now you don't have to worry about people hitting on you!" He offered in his defense, falling into pace and walking next to them.

            Seto sighed and kept on walking, but his free hand reached over to take Joey's in his lightly, smiling a little as Joey held onto his hand as well.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I know it's kinda short, but it just wanted to end early, I suppose. I guess I was too busy trying to wrap things up to bother with length. This is the end of the story in this time frame. The next chapter will be a sort of 'epilogue' of sorts. It will probably be shorter than this…

Now it's time for

MANDATORY MOKUBA KIDNAPPING PART 9:

Mokuba: *eaves JoeyxSeto banner*

Seto: *steals it and writes SetoxJoey*

Joey: Hey! I liked it the other way!

Seto: *cross out Joey's name and glares at him*

Joey: EEP! I've been erased! *cries*

Seto: *evil smile*

Mokuba: I can't do it, so… *hands Tea a bat*

Tea: You mean…I get to beat someone up?

Yugi: That's what it seems like, Bag.

Tea: Shut up or it'll be you

Seto: Why does Tea have a bat?

Tea: *chases Seto around with bat*

Mokuba: *laughs evilly* SUPPORT THE JOEYxSETO OR WE'LL HAVE BAG BEAT YOU UP WITH A BAT!

Tea: . I feel so used…

And there you have it. Chapter nine of Beauty and the Beast. Sorry it took so long, but you all still love me, right? You know how to prove you love me, don't you? *points towards review button while practicing her swings*


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